The final day of the MLB Winter Meetings remained quiet for A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres, at least on the trade and free agent signing front. Preller had his last day of media availability and he made his strongest statement of the meetings while discussing the swirling rumors concerning trading Fernando Tatis Jr.

When asked by MLB Network if Tatis Jr. was untouchable, Preller replied:

“He’s somebody we’re not talking about, however you want to view that. If you want to say that’s untouchable, you can say that.”

Has that stopped teams from asking about Tatis? Preller: “No.”

Here is the interview, in which Preller is as forceful as I have heard him in an interview regarding trading players on the roster. According to other rumors circulated during the meetings, both Jake Cronenworth and Nick Pivetta were discussed in trade talks. If the prevailing opinions are true and the Padres’ needs have to be covered with a very limited payroll, dealing from the current roster might be the only option. Clearing payroll while acquiring talent could also allow the organization to sign a free agent or two.

Padres go to Mexico City again

It was announced by MLB that the Padres will again travel to Mexico City in 2026 for a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. April 25 and April 26 will be home games for the Dbacks and will again be played in the Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú. In their previous trip to Mexico City, in 2023, the Padres swept the Giants by scores of 16-11 and 6-4, hitting a combined 15 home runs in the stadium that sits above 7,000 feet in elevation. Tickets will go on sale on Jan. 19 via Ticketmaster.

Top Preller lieutenant retires

Logan White, one of A.J. Preller’s most trusted lieutenants and the head of player development, is retiring. He won the West Coast Scout of the Year Award and announced his retirement after the award. He has 40-plus years of time in baseball, 10 years as part of Preller’s scouting group.

Preller updates status of Ethan Salas

In a conversation with Sammy Levitt of 97.3 The Fan, Preller updated the status of Padres catching prospect Ethan Salas.

After being very aggressive with challenging the 19-year-old prospect, the Padres are now being very conservative with managing his work. Salas missed most of the 2025 season after suffering a stress reaction in his lower back in April. He has not played in a game since and was rehabbing at the Arizona complex with the aim to get him into the Fall League or Winter Leagues. Neither of those things happened and it seems we will not see Salas until February. Hopefully, Salas is truly past his injury and can pick up his development with a healthy 2026.

The Padres made no selections during the major or minor league phases of the Rule 5 draft. The organization lost two players in the Triple-A round. The Chicago Cubs selected third baseman Devin Ortiz in the third round and the Washington Nationals selected RHP Eiker Huizi in the fifth round.

Huizi is currently playing in Winter ball and is 25 years old. Ortiz, 26, played in Double-A San Antonio this past season. None of the Padres top 30 prospects that went unprotected were lost in the draft.

“Sooner rather than later”

Although the Padres made no major moves during the meetings, Preller told Sammy Levitt that there was progress made on several fronts and he hopes to have some things accomplished “sooner rather than later” in regards to adding to the team’s starting rotation depth.

Albert Pujols will manage Machado and Tatis Jr.

Although Albert Pujols did not win the manager job with the San Diego Padres, he will still be managing both Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Pujols was officially announced as the manager for the World Baseball Classic Dominican Republic team during the Winter Meetings WBC media day. This will be Machado’s third time representing the Dominican Republic in the WBC. It will be Tatis Jr.’s first time representing his home country in the international tournament. They will be playing on the same roster as Juan Soto for the event, which takes place during MLB Spring Training, March 5 – March 17.