A.J. Preller's approach to acquiring veteran starting pitchers has transformed the San Diego Padres into a perennial playoff contender.
It had been a while since A.J. Preller went large on an outside pitcher in free agency . Sorry, Padres fans. No intent to spook you; actually, the opposite. As if chastened, Preller made no more multi-year splashes in this often-treacherous, free-agent niche for almost a decade. Shields was in decline when he joined the Padres at 33. Though less decorated, Pivetta, who turned 32 last week, is coming off a season that produced his tied-for-second-best strikeout rate and second-best adjusted ERA.
The long memory trip back to Shields brings home an important truth to the Padres’ ongoing pursuit of their first World Series trophy: since Preller’s rookie year, when he appeared to be bobbing in San Diego Bay without a life vest, the franchise’s top baseball execute has matured into an above-average team-builder. In the crucial task of acquiring veteran starting pitchers, few GMs in the past four years have outperformed Preller. Trades brought Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove during the first of those four offseasons, setting up a trip to the NLCS. Last offseason came the swaps for Michael King and Dylan Cease, followed by the summer addition of Martin Perez. Those pitchers fueled a run that produced the franchise’s second-best victory total and MLB’s best record over the season’s second half. In free agency’s low-cost markets, veteran pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha each joined the Padres on a de facto one-year contract for about $7 million three offseasons ago. Both pitchers parlayed stellar 2023 seasons into long-term contracts with the Royals.But instead of giving them to free agents, he rewarded a pair of Padres pitchers — Darvish and Musgrove – to keep them off the open market. (Preller also paid up to keep closer Robert Suarez, who got a five-year, $46-million contract.) TBD on the extensions of $100 million and $108 million to Darvish and Musgrove. Improving his odds of success, Preller was drawing upon inside information about each pitcher.He broke things, all right. Between December and February of his first offseason, Preller made three bad trades. One sent Trea Turner to the Nationals. Another sent Max Fried to the Braves. Another brought Matt Kemp from the Dodgers. Dig into each of those trades, and the only possible grade must fall on or near the letter F. The fourth move that winter was the signing of Shields. Along with money, it cost the Padres the 13th pick in the following amateur draft.Preller would reward the faith and patience of his Padres bosses Peter Seidler and Ron Fowler, both of whom were also on the front end of a large learning curve. In response to Shields’ struggles, Preller made a brilliant if somewhat fortunate, response. He got teenager Fernando Tatis Jr. in the trade that sent Shields and $31 million to the White Sox, just 16 months after Shields first pulled on a Padres cap. Years later, when addressing White Sox fans, GM Rick Hahn referred to himself as the donkey’s behind who traded Tatis.Preller didn’t allow the Shields error to deter him. The successful styles he has evolved in obtaining veteran pitchers has been a staple to the Padres becoming playoff contender in recent seasons, and a reason why oddmakers place the Padres among the National League’s five World Series trophy candidates this year
PADRES AJ PRELLER STARTING PITCHERS FREE AGENCY TRADES WORLD SERIES FERNANDO TATIS JR.
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