It wouldn’t be a Winter Meetings without AJ Preller working the phones.

The San Diego Padres’ president of baseball operations pulled off a stunning trade at the Winter Meetings in Nashville two years ago, sending Juan Soto and Trent Grisham to the New York Yankees in exchange for Michael King, Randy Vasquez, Kyle Higashioka, Drew Thorpe and Jhony Brito.

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Although last year was a quiet one in the Padres’ suite, Preller could be the center of attention soon in Orlando, Florida.

According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, “one source said the Padres are working multiple fronts that could result in deals that rival the massive trade in which they acquired four major leaguers in exchange for Juan Soto and Trent Grisham at the winter meetings two years ago.”

The Padres have already executed arguably the most stunning trade of the year. They dealt their top prospect, Leo De Vries, to the A’s in July for closer Mason Miller. Their next trade might not involve a prospect leaving the organization — MLB Pipeline ranked the Padres 30th out of 30 teams after the De Vries trade rocked the deadline — but it might not involve prospects coming into San Diego either.

Either way, Acee cited another source who said “Preller’s plans coming to fruition would make the deals he made at the past two trade deadlines pale in comparison.”

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For his part, Preller didn’t shoot down the report in an interview Tuesday with MLB Network.

Padres POBO and GM A.J. Preller responds to the rumors regarding a potential big trade at the #WinterMeetings:

MLB Network + @CohnReznick https://t.co/xodzbWOQPg pic.twitter.com/Opbdug4WOf

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) December 9, 2025

“I think it’s the time of year where all front offices … you’re in these rooms, you have all kinds of ideas and thoughts flying, and 99 percent of them don’t come to fruition,” Preller said. “So I think for us, we try to be prepared. We have a good feel for what our team needs, and our club needs.

“Some years we’ve made moves at the Meetings. Some years we haven’t. Ultimately there’s a lot of time between now and Spring Training. We’ve had some years where we’ve been doing press conferences in Peoria, for (Manny) Machado, or last year for Nick Pivetta and pulling off trades later for Dylan Cease.”

Preller went on to say that “you want to be able to listen to what people are going to say” but that he’s happy with the talent currently in-house.

The Padres face a pressing need in the starting rotation after losing Dylan Cease to the Toronto Blue Jays in free agency, and potentially losing Michael King as well. Yu Darvish won’t pitch for the Padres — or anyone — after undergoing internal brace procedure after the season.

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