PHOENIX — It’s like handing a basketball to Michael Jordan.
It’s like giving a microphone to Beyoncé.
It’s like providing Tony Robbins an audience.
Granting San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller a trade deadline.
Preller, who lives for this time of year, and loves to play pick-up basketball at any opportunity, slam-dunked on his competition by pulling off the biggest moves at the trade deadline.
Once again.
Preller, knowing that there’s nothing more valuable in the postseason than a great bullpen, made sure that he’s got the best in the land by acquiring flamethrowing Athletics closer Mason Miller and starter JP Sears. The cost was steep, surrendering four of San Diego’s top 17 prospects, including the best of the bunch in 18-year-old shortstop Leo De Vries.
Oh, he didn’t stop there. He pulled off another doozy with the Baltimore Orioles, acquiring first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and outfielder Ramon Laureano. He grabbed catcher Freddy Fermin from the Kansas City Royals, who will be an offensive upgrade over Elias Diaz and Martín Maldonado. He acquired starter Nestor Cortes from the Milwaukee Brewers. And just for kicks, traded for infielder Will Wagner, the son of Hall of Famer Billy Wagner, from the Toronto Blue Jays.
When the smoke cleared from Preller’s phone at the end of the day, he had traded a stunning 22 prospects, including nine of the top 30 in the organization.
Preller, of course, has never been shy trading prospects. He has traded away future All-Stars like Trea Turner, James Wood, Max Fried, MacKenzie Gore, C.J. Abrams, David Bednar, Josh Naylor and Andes Muñoz. So, he isn’t about to hang onto prospects now.
“It’s probably the toughest part of the job,’ Preller said. “It’s a testament to our scouting, player delveiopment group, that we’ve been able to be in this position to make these types of decisions and calls. We just have good players that other teams want. …
“I think we understand you’ve got to give up good players to get good players. And at the end, if it puts oir team in a good position for now, and for the future, that’s a positive outcome.’
Miller becomes Preller’s latest star acquisition, joining the likes of Juan Soto, Josh Hader and Tanner Scott in recent years. This is a guy who leads all of baseball with an average fastball velocity of 101.1-mph, is second in strikeout percentage (39.1%) and sixth in opponent’s batting average (.163).
The next assignment is to be on the mound for the Padres’ World Series clincher, capturing the first title in franchise history.
“The expectation is to go win a ring, go win a championship,’ Preller said. “That’s the goal we set out at the start of spring training. Last year, we fell short. Hopefully, we learned from that.’
MLB trade deadline winners
Houston Astros
The Astros, after learning that third baseman Isaac Paredes will be out the rest of the season, made a telephone call that triggered the most stunning trade of the day. They called the Minnesota Twins to tell them they were interested in acquiring shortstop Carlos Correa. The Twins, who are up for sale, listened but had no interest. The Astros told the Twins that they’d help them financially by taking Correa off their hands. The only catch is that they wanted the Twins to pay half of the remaining $103 million he is owed, and asked for an outfielder in return. The Twins hung up the phone, called the proposal laughable and figured that was the end of it.
Owner Jim Crane, knowing the Twins are more than $400 million in debt, took over. He called Twins chairman Joe Pohlad, and let him know that he could take a big financlal burden off his hand by moving Correa. In the meantime, Correa went to the front office and informed them that if they are selling, he’d gladly waive his no-trade clause for Houston. Crane and Pohlad talked, and talked, and talked some more. By the end of the day, the Twins agreed to send Correa to Houston, pay $33 million of his remaining contract and got only minor league lefty Matt Mikulsi in return. The Astros have their third baseman for $70 million through 2028.
The Astros didn’t stop there, with GM Dana Brown grabbing left-handed hitting outfielder Jesus Sanchez from the Miami Marlins and utility infielder Ramon Urias from the Baltimore Orioles. He nearly traded for Padres starter Dylan Cease until balking at the demand of pitcher Spencer Arrighetti and three prospects.
At the end of the day, no one obtained more talent and gave up less, than the Astros.
Philadelphia Phillies
In the eyes of Dave Dombrowski, prospects are suspects who can be used for valuable trade chips. Dombrowski, Phillies president of baseball operations, made sure that a leaky bullpen wouldn’t sink their World Series hopes by landing Minnesota Twins All-Star closer Jhoan Duran. It cost them two of their better prospects, but not any of their elite ones, keeping Andrew Painter. It’s a significant upgrade over struggling Jordan Romano (6.81 ERA), knowing that Jose Alvarado won’t be eligible to pitch in the postseason.
Now, after acquiring Duran (who’s under team control through 2027), signing David Robertson and acquiring outfielder Harrison Bader, the defensive whiz from the Minnesota Twins, they’ve got a message for the rest of baseball: See you in October.
New York Mets
They got not only one, or two, but three relievers, giving them one of the best bullpens in the game. The Mets, after acquiring Gregory Soto earlier in the week, didn’t blink trading away four of their top 20 prospects for St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley and San Franciso Giants reliever Tyler Rogers. The bullpen, anchored by All-Star Edwin Diaz, is so deep that reliever Ryne Stanek told reporters in the Mets clubhouse: “I might be pitching the fourth inning.’
Well, he may be right, with Mets baseball operations chief David Stearns going all in, doing everything possible to get the Mets’ their first title since 1986, trading away their 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th prospects. They also acquired veteran center fielder Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles, which gives them a true center fielder, allowing the Mets to move Jeff McNeil around the diamond.
“Our responsibility here is to give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs,’ said David Stearns, Mets president of baseball operations, “and ultimately win a World Series every single year. … So I don’t view this period of Mets’ competitiveness in a defined window. I view it as the beginning of what should be a very long and sustained period of competitiveness at the highest level.’
Seattle Mariners
Finally, the Mariners acted with urgency. Finally, they got much-needed power bats. Finally, they acted like a team ready to not only make the playoffs, but reach their first World Series in franchise history. All it took was swallowing their pride, trading for the power hitter they gave up two years ago, and now they have the most powerful 1-2 power combination in baseball with catcher Cal Raleigh (41 homers) and new third baseman Eugenio Suarez (36 homers). The cost was relatively cheap getting back Suarez too, trading away their ninth-best prospect in first baseman Tyler Lockear, 16th-best prospect in Hunter Cranton and 17th-best prospect in Juan Burgos. The Mariners also acquired Pirates reliever Caleb Ferguson.
New York Yankees
The Yankees, who have had the second-worst bullpen since July 1 (6.29 ERA), completely overhauled their relievers. They landed one of the premier closers in the game in Pittsburgh Pirates closer David Bednar, acquired San Francisco Giants closer Camilo Doval, and right-handed reliever Jake Bird from the Colorado Rockies. They badly needed a third baseman, and grabbed defensive whiz Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies. They wanted another shortstop, and took Jose Caballero from the Tampa Bay Rays. They wanted depth, and acquired outfielder Austin Slater from the Chicago White Sox. Their only flaw was not getting another starter.
Cincinnati Reds
The Reds are on the outside looking in, three games out of the final wild-card berth and a 16.8% chance of reaching the postseason, according to FanGraphs. Yet, here they are, acting like they’re fine-tuning the Big Red Machine. They were in on Eugenio Suarez, but pivoted, deciding they would rather have four years of elite defense with Ke’Bryan Hayes than two months of power hitting. They grabbed Tampa Bay Rays starter Zack Littell. And they acquired outfielder Miguel Anduijar from the A’s.
Is it a longshot the Reds make the postseason? Yes. Is it at least possible? Indeed.
MLB trade deadline losers
Minnesota Twins
Has there ever been a worse day in Twins’ franchise history? Anyone? It was a nightmare beyond belief. The Twins, with sudden orders from ownership to slash payroll, conducted the biggest firesale in a single day in baseball history. They unloaded 10 players from their 26-man roster, shedding nearly $100 million in payroll. It was so ugly they even paid the Houston Astros $33 million to take Carlos Correa and the remaining $103 million off their hands.
It was ugly. It was embarrassing. And for all of those fans who paid for season tickets, they will now be relegated to watching a minor league perform the final two months.
Their only hope now is that the Twins can be sold as quickly as possible to erase the memory of the darkest day since they moved to Minneapolis.
San Francisco Giants
Remember when the Giants were taking baseball by storm, stealing Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox and shouting to the world that this was only the beginning, and they were ready to take on the mighty Dodgers? Well, a funny thing happened along the way. They have since posted the worst record in baseball since the trade, just went an entire six-game homestand without winning a single game for the first time in 129 years, and then officially raised the white flag at the deadline.
They traded away setup man Tyler Rogers and let everyone know they were conducting a semi-firesale, and followed it by dumping closer Camilo Doval and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski. The biggest question now is what the Giants do this winter, and whether they will enter the 2026 season with a new manager, new coaches, or a brand new team.
Boston Red Sox
Hey, weren’t the Red Sox supposed to do something? They promised. They were going to make this team a legitimate contender. Instead, the trade deadline came and went, and all they did was acquire struggling Dodgers starter Dustin May and swingman Steven Matz from the St. Louis Cardinals. It wasn’t nearly enough.
“We pursued a number of really impact opportunities,’ said Craig Breslow, chief baseball officer. “Obviously, not all of them work out, but it wasn’t from a lack of trying to be as aggressive as possible or from an unwillingness to get uncomfortable.’
The only thing uncomfortable now is Red Sox Nation squirming in their seats wondering how they can still hang with the Blue Jays and Yankees in the AL East.
Milwaukee Brewers
We should never question the Brewers considering how they are ridiculed for their lack of activity every winter, and still win the NL Central virtually every year. Still, the team with the best record in baseball did absolutely nothing but pick up injured Diamondbacks closer Shelby Miller. Who knows, maybe the Brewers will get the last laugh again. Or maybe, they’ll be tormented all winter knowing they passed up a golden opportunity.
Chicago White Sox
They could have traded center fielder Luis Robert Jr. during the winter, but passed, believing his value would rise during the season. Instead, it was another injury-prone, underachieving season. He’s hitting .211 with 11 homers, 43 RBIs and a .651 OPS. He’s been so bad that no one bothered to make a decent offer, with only the New York Mets showing the slightest interest. And now the White Sox have no choice but to exercise a $20 million option on him and pray that something changes in a year. They were able to move starter Adrian Houser and Austin Slater for fringe prospects, but that was it.
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs were supposed to be all-in from the moment they traded for All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker. Instead, they were almost all-out at the deadline. The only starter they acquired was Mike Soroka (3-8 with a 4.87 ERA). The only position player was utilityman Willi Castro from the Minnesota Twins. They did solidify the bullpen with Andrew Kittredge from the Baltimore Orioles and Taylor Rogers, who was acquired in a salary dump from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Failing to land another starter could haunt them down the stretch, and certainly into October.
“We felt the asking price we felt was something we couldn’t do to the future,’ Jed Hoyer, Cubs president of baseball operations, told reporters. ‘We made the decision that those prices didn’t make sense for us to be sustainably successful.’
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This story was updated to include new information.