Athletics get: SS Leo De Vries, RHP Braden Nett, RHP Henry Báez, RHP Eduarniel Nuñez

Padres get: RHP Mason Miller, LHP J.P. Sears

Andy McCullough

Padres: A
Athletics: A

What, you thought this deadline was going to pass without A.J. Preller taking a huge swing? 

The man has a philosophy, as he explained to us earlier this year for a series of stories about the relationships between executives: “We’re going to trade good players to get players,” he said. “We’re willing to make moves.”

Buddy, you better believe it. 

The Padres already employ a solid closer in the form of Robert Suarez. But Miller is younger, cheaper, and under team control through 2029. Preller can now package Suarez to another club in order to improve the club’s lineup. Or he can stand pat and boast a super ‘pen. 

Miller is one of the most difficult pitchers in the sport to hit against. His average fastball velocity is 101 mph. He strikes out about 14 batters per nine innings. He is, when right, absolutely ferocious. But his command has been less sharp this season, and he’s been slightly more prone to home runs. The expected metrics suggest that will stabilize. Miller figures to be a force in the National League West for years to come. 

Sears is a back-end starter who will likely appreciate getting out of Sacramento — he has a 5.48 ERA at Sutter Health Park and a 4.55 ERA everywhere else. He’s under team control through 2028 and provides Preller with some cushion to keep dealing. Suarez and starter Dylan Cease could be on the move. Preller would still like to upgrade his lineup. 

As for the Athletics, the team declined to move Miller last summer and will benefit from that patience if De Vries reaches his ceiling. Our Keith Law was one of the more pessimistic graders on De Vries in the most recent batch of prospect rankings — and Keith put him at No. 13 in the sport. Other outlets rank him in the top five. Either way: He’s a potential stud, a switch-hitting shortstop who has played well at class-A Fort Wayne in what would be his senior year in high school if he grew up in the United States. 

The rest of the package also has some promise. Nett’s inability to put away left-handed hitters may turn him into a reliever. He’s been missing bats plenty in Double A but also struggling with walks. He’s part of the same rotation as Baez, who has posted better results but has less explosive stuff, which limits his ceiling. Nuñez reached the majors this season after posting some outrageous strikeout numbers in the minors. He has never really thrown strikes before this season, so that will be something to manage. 

Preller has never shied away from dealing high-profile prospects. Sometimes, as in the case of Max Fried, Trea Turner and the Juan Soto package, that philosophy has burned him. But he’s made plenty of other deals where the prospects have faded into the ash heap of baseball history. Do you remember who Preller traded for Blake Snell? How about Josh Hader? Yu Darvish? 

So multiple things can be true. The Athletics maximized the return on an elite reliever with several years of control. There are few prospects in the sport with more hype than De Vries. He will determine how much San Diego regrets this decision. Then again, given that Miller will be around for several postseason races after this one, the Padres will have more than one chance to hang a banner at Petco Park. That, after all, is Preller’s mission.

Zack Meisel

Padres: B+
Athletics: A

The real winners here? Us. We get to watch, once again, as A.J. Preller operates like that one person in your fantasy league who’s always having the most fun. Will it work? Who cares? Screw it, let’s go for it. The sun might explode tomorrow and none of this will matter anyway. It’s a refreshing approach in a league full of uber-careful, risk-averse front offices, even if it hasn’t netted the ultimate prize to this point.

And, look, this one isn’t even that zany. De Vries is a heralded prospect, yes, but he’s 18, and it’s not as though Preller is shipping him out for a rental. Miller, who throws the league’s fastest heater, is under team control through 2029, and if the Padres need to trade him in the future, he’ll still have plenty of value for a couple of years. Or, maybe Miller will finally, eventually start. Plus, they get Sears, who provides back-of-rotation insurance if Preller moves Dylan Cease, or if Cease and Michael King both exit via free agency this winter. It might not be the sexiest use of the Padres’ best trade chip — it seemed like it was this or Steven Kwan — but the Padres don’t have many trade chips left, and Preller always acts like he has no time to waste.

As for the A’s, it’s usually a good idea to trade a reliever for a well-regarded position player. It’s easy to dream about a lineup including De Vries, Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson, Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom, Shea Langeliers, Colby Thomas and others in Sacramento or Las Vegas or the moon in a few years.

Stephen J. Nesbitt

Padres: A-
Athletics: A

The average baseball brain would consider the San Diego Padres and come to a quick conclusion that their greatest need was not a third closer. Some starting pitching, yes. A left fielder, for sure. But it takes a transactional visionary like Padres GM A.J. Preller to not only conjure the idea of adding another elite leverage reliever — going three deep on potential closers like he did a year ago when acquiring Tanner Scott and Jason Adam to go with the incumbent closer, Robert Suarez — but to have the cojones to get the deal done.

Now we wait to see what chess moves Preller has left after adding a starter and reliever from the Athletics. Trade Suarez? Trade Dylan Cease? Fully mortgage the farm?

For now, what we know is that Mason Miller is a Padre. The 26-year-old is a remarkable pitcher with a remarkable story and a remarkable fastball. He ranks among the best relievers in baseball in strikeout rate, whiff rate, chase rate, expected batting average and, yes, fastball velocity. The heater averages 101.1 mph. Averages. No sooner had Miller started dominating last season than people began speculating what it would take to pry him from the Athletics. Well now we know. It was a whole heap of prospects. Miller has a 3.76 ERA, 2.86 FIP and 20 saves this season. Those aren’t quite the numbers he had last season, when he was an All-Star and finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. But given that he’s not a free agent until after the 2029 season, Miller was the most valuable potential trade chip in the pitching market. It was just a matter of whether the A’s were ready to move him.

Mason Miller throws 101 and will anchor the Padres bullpen through at least 2029. (Eakin Howard / Getty Images)

Sears, 29, is a Padre, too. We will not belabor this breakdown. Sears is a serviceable, below-average lefty under club control through the 2028 season. If Preller was going to give up a prospect the caliber of De Vries, why not supplement his return with a back-end starter who could potentially create the capacity for a Cease trade.

De Vries is the best prospect we’ve seen traded at the deadline in years. De Vries is a switch-hitting shortstop that the Padres have promoted aggressively to this point, and he’s holding his own as an 18-year-old at High-A Fort Wayne, batting .245/.357/.410. Law has him as a plus defensive shortstop. Extremely young. Extremely high ceiling. That’s not the type of prospect many GMs even consider parting with, especially for a relief pitcher.

That’s why Preller is one of one. He’s giving up not only one of the game’s top prospects but three others ranked among the Padres’ top 16 prospects by Baseball America to give himself a behemoth bullpen. He still has work to do elsewhere on the roster. By now, we all know he’s got more cooking.

(Top photos of Mason Miller and A.J. Preller: Sam Hodde, Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)