ORLANDO, Fla. — Wednesday afternoon, as MLB’s Winter Meetings wound toward conclusion, A.J. Preller went somewhere he rarely ventures.

The San Diego Padres president of baseball operations described franchise fulcrum Fernando Tatis Jr. as untouchable in trade discussions. Sort of.

“He’s somebody that … we’re not talking about (trading),” Preller said. “So, however you want to view that, if you want to say that’s untouchable, you can say that.”

It had been seven whirlwind years since Preller, in an MLB Network interview at the 2018 Winter Meetings, encapsulated what has become an oft-demonstrated philosophy of his tenure.

“If someone wants to give us two Tatises for one Tatis,” the executive said at the time of his then-No. 1 prospect, “you’re going to talk about it.”

In other words, when Preller is involved, is anyone truly untouchable? Probably not.

Before Wednesday, Preller might have never so openly attached that term to any player. It had been a little more than three years since the Padres, according to team and league sources, seriously considered the idea of trading Jackson Merrill or James Wood as part of a blockbuster package to acquire Shohei Ohtani. That same month, after Ohtani was yanked off the market, Preller surrendered Wood, MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams and more to land Juan Soto. For San Diego, before Soto himself was eventually traded away, those were the headiest of times.

The Padres now find themselves in a much different position: their team up for sale, their collection of nine-figure contracts more boulder than runway, their still eminently marketable $340 million right fielder the subject of rampant speculation.

Still, over three days in Orlando, team officials privately insisted that Tatis was not for sale. Then came a notable public attempt at quieting the noise.

“There’s a bunch of guys on the roster that we’re not looking to have conversations about,” Preller said. “If somebody wants to call and say, ‘Hey … would you talk about this guy?’ we say we’re not talking about those players — ‘I don’t see us doing that.’ You know, if somebody wants to say, ‘Hey, would you do this?’ you’re not going to just, like, cover your ears and say, ‘Hang up the phone immediately.’

“But I’ve seen the reports on Tatis and things like that. Tatis is one of the best players in baseball. We believe he’s one of the top guys in baseball. He’s a two-time Platinum (Glove) winner. This guy’s taken over portions of seasons and games and playoff series and everything like that. I think for us to get to where we want to get to, we need Fernando to be an A-lane, MVP, whatever kind of category you want to put on it. He can be that type of player.”

OK, then. For now. In the meantime, the question is how the Padres propose to avoid wasting Tatis’ age-27 season and early-to-mid-30s campaigns for fellow nine-figure players Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts.

Preller’s intentions, as they often do, remain unclear. The general manager said this week that he much prefers to keep their deep bullpen intact, yet controllable, hard-throwing reliever Jeremiah Estrada looms as a potential chip to help acquire starting pitching or a first baseman/designated hitter type. League sources said the Padres have shopped the five years and $60 million left on second baseman Jake Cronenworth’s contract. That’s understandable, yet the team has also entertained outside interest in Ramón Laureano, a productive left fielder owed just $6.5 million in his final year before free agency.

Is Fernando Tatis Jr. untouchable in trade talks? AJ Preller addressed the question today at the MLB Winter Meetings: pic.twitter.com/tlcaOQW3fs

— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) December 10, 2025

Meanwhile, the top arm in a thin rotation continues to be a topic of ample discussion. The Padres clearly need Nick Pivetta, but an inflated pitching market could encourage the team to seek multiple controllable starters — or enough prospect capital to acquire controllable starters — as a potential return. There is more than a little risk with the veteran right-hander, too. If Pivetta again performs in 2026, he will almost certainly opt out. If he regresses or suffers injury, the Padres could find themselves on the hook for an additional $32 million.

If San Diego doesn’t end up moving Cronenworth or Pivetta, the options for recrafting a lopsided payroll appear scarce. It’s why, no matter what Preller says, the speculation about Tatis doesn’t figure to end. Multiple veteran executives described the outfielder as the lone Padres player with a significant contract who could fetch enough controllable big-league talent to keep the club as competitive as it’s been.

Despite all the Padres’ private and public messaging, Preller said other teams have not stopped asking about Tatis.

“No (they haven’t), but that’s, like, any player. That’s not just Tati,” Preller said. “‘I know you’re not going to talk about this guy. Just to let you know if you ever did, we have interest in this guy.’ And then we go on and talk about some other players and some other things that are more realistic.

“You owe it to the organization, yourself, to at least hear what’s out there at this time of year. … But we got our hit list and our target list, and we got our guys that we feel like are going to be part of our team. And that hasn’t changed in these (Winter Meetings).”

Wednesday night, as the baseball industry departed the Disney World area, there was a sense that Preller’s creativity could still result in the kind of trade wizardry he pulled over the past two seasons. Then, as now, finances appeared tight.

So, in case someone blows him away for any number of players, Preller will keep listening. Just as he always does, he will continue to aggressively inquire about other teams’ players.

“I think most times, teams just don’t ask. I feel like there’s a lot of teams that just don’t have those conversations. But I’ve never had somebody, when you ask, just hang up the phone on you,” Preller said. He added: “Maybe guys wanted to at different times.”