Here\u2019s guessing Padres opponents aren\u2019t upset that MLB rules will disallow A.J. Preller \u2014 and everyone else \u2014 from making any more trades this season.<\/p>\n
Enhanced by Preller\u2019s trade-deadline additions July 31, the Padres began this week as a near-certain playoff team and a renewed threat to earn the club\u2019s first National League West title since 2006.<\/p>\n
Post-deadline, the Padres had won 14 of 22 games going into Monday\u2019s contest at Seattle.<\/p>\n
Checking several boxes, Preller imported much-needed hitting power, strengthened the pitching staff and shored up the catching.<\/p>\n
The new catcher, Freddy Fermin, may have staved off an attrition disaster at baseball\u2019s most grueling position.<\/p>\n
While Gavin Sheets\u2019 reduced playing time may have hurt the offense, the reinforcements have weeded out a number of unfavorable individual matchups and reduce fatigue challenges of teamamtes.<\/p>\n
Now, imagine Preller hadn\u2019t made any trades.<\/p>\n
Kiss the NL West race goodbye. The Dodgers would be too talented to threaten, even with their recent swoon. The\u00a0wild-card playoff spot would still be in play, but those margins would be slimmer.<\/p>\n
Preller\u2019s top addition so far has been outfielder Ramon Laureano. Obtained from the Orioles with first baseman Ryan O\u2019Hearn in return for six 2024 draftees, Laureano hit four home runs and slugged .563 in 87 plate appearances heading into Monday.<\/p>\n
Left field is Laureano\u2019s best position, but he also plays center well enough to allow the Padres to boost their power-challenged offense by having Sheets in left.<\/p>\n
Laureano isn\u2019t as good defensively as center fielder Jackson Merrill. But he has given manager Mike Shildt an appealing offensive option in starting eight games for Merrill, who twisted an ankle Aug. 15.<\/p>\n
Providing a bonus Sunday, the 5-foot-10 Laureano denied the visiting Dodgers a grand slam with a well-timed snag above the right-center field wall at Petco Park.<\/p>\n
At catcher, Fermin has logged 15 complete games since coming over from the Royals for two back-end starting pitchers. He has dealt well with learning the pitching staff, while also hitting better than his two predecessors, El\u00edas D\u00edaz\u00a0and Martin Maldonado.<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz, 34, who platooned with Maldonado, 39, was at risk of wearing down deep in the marathon. Saturday, when he hit a two-run home run off Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, accounting for the offense\u2019s only runs, Diaz was coming off four consecutive off days.<\/p>\n
Closer Mason Miller, who\u2019s a real-life version of fictional flamethrower Sidd Finch, has further jazzed up a Padres bullpen that led MLB in several categories before his arrival from the A\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Outside of allowing a two-run home run by the Diamondbacks\u2019 Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who turned around his 103.9-mph heat, Miller has tossed eight scoreless innings. He has 16 strikeouts and four walks.<\/p>\n
Like fellow Orioles transfer Laureano, the left-handed O\u2019Hearn is having a career season.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hearn is 6-for-10 with two home runs versus lefties, contrasting his poor .527 OPS in 54 plate appearances against right-handers.<\/p>\n
Replacing the two young starting pitchers he dealt for Fermin, Preller got lefties Nelson Cortes and JP Sears from the Brewers and A\u2019s, respectively.<\/p>\n
Saturday, Cortes allowed the Dodgers one hit and one run in six innings, leading to a 5-1 victory. L.A. whiffed at five of his sweepers. On the other hand, the Giants\u2019 lone victory in seven games against the Padres this month was jump started by three home runs off Cortes, who has a 3.00 ERA in four games.<\/p>\n
Sears flunked his Padres debut,\u00a0but after brushing up in Triple-A, he came back to hold the Giants to one run in six innings last week.<\/p>\n
Preller didn\u2019t have much money to spend at this year\u2019s deadline. Trade partners agreed to pay down players\u2019 salaries, resulting in a net addition of only $1.5 million to the payroll.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a rental frenzy, though.<\/p>\n
With Laureano, 31, under contract next season for $6.5 million and both Fermin, 30, and Miller, 27, under control for several more years, Preller filled three prominent spots on the 2026 Padres and potentially two for beyond next season.<\/p>\n
Is there any doubt he\u2019d make more trades, given the chance?<\/p>\n
Seamhead stuff<\/p>\n
A scout who watched the six recent games between the Padres and Dodgers \u2014 four of them L.A. victories \u2014 lauded Sheets, O\u2019Hearn and shortstop Xander Bogaerts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s impressive how O\u2019Hearn and Sheets are hitting left-handers this year,\u201d he said. \u201cBogaerts\u2019 re-emergence has been huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bogaerts, 32, ranks among MLB\u2019s top shortstops in defensive metrics. His percentage of hard-hit balls is significantly higher than in his first two years with the Padres.<\/p>\n
The scout said the Padres \u201cstill miss the elite version of Merrill.\u201d\u00a0 Regarding Dodgers hitters, he said \u201ca lot of \u2018em are still struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s guessing Padres opponents aren\u2019t upset that MLB rules will disallow A.J. Preller \u2014 and everyone else \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2407],"tags":[5,853,4,43,137,18,4339,4338,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-272478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-padres","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-padres","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-san-diego-padres","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sandiegopadres","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}