SAN DIEGO -- A.J. Preller has made a career out of trading high-end prospects, rebuilding farm systems and, for better or worse, acting boldly.
It was obvious once again Tuesday in the final hour of this year's trade deadline, when the San Diego Padres' famously aggressive general manager swung a deal for Tanner Scott, the best reliever available and someone who had hardly even been linked to Preller's Padres.
For Scott, a lights-out closer who will be a free agent at season's end, the Padres gave up two of their best pitching prospects in Robby Snelling and Adam Mazur, as well as Graham Pauley, a highly rated infielder. When they acquired Jason Adam, a high-leverage reliever with two-plus years of control, on Sunday they traded away Dylan Lesko, whom some publications regarded as the Padres' best pitching prospect heading into the year.
Nearly three months earlier, they landed former batting champion Luis Arraez with a package built around Dillon Head, their best outfield prospect outside of converted shortstop Jackson Merrill.
"One thing we've never been scared of -- we're going to trade players," Preller said. "I don't know philosophically if it's right, wrong -- we're going to trade players, they're going to show up in the big leagues, at least our organization is, and are going to do really good things. But if we get what we're looking to do, and it works for us this year and over the next three to five years, we're content with that.
"Billy Beane used to tell me that when I would talk trade with him. He would always tell me, 'I've traded All-Stars, MVPs, Cy Young winners, and 20 years later we've done a lot of winning and we're still in this spot.' We take it like we're going to trade talented players; that's a compliment to our scouting group, honestly, and our development group."
The Padres had for weeks been looked upon as a team that would chase starting pitching ahead of the deadline with Joe Musgrove navigating through his second elbow-related stint on the IL and Yu Darvish on the restricted list for an indefinite amount of time. But the Padres were not comfortable meeting the demands at the top of the starting pitching market, prompting Preller to chase his impact arm for the bullpen -- an area that had seemingly already been fortified by the addition of Adam.
In Scott, the Padres obtained a 30-year-old lefty who posted a 1.18 ERA and accumulated 18 saves in 44 appearances for the last-place Marlins, striking out 53 batters and issuing 27 walks in 45⅔ innings. Among relievers with at least 100 appearances since the start of 2023, Scott ranks second in ERA (1.89), fourth in WHIP (0.99) and 10th in strikeout percentage (32.1).
In San Diego, Scott will slide into what now looks like a devastating back end of the bullpen alongside Adam, Robert Suarez, Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morejon, with Suarez expected to remain the primary closer. The five of them had combined to limit opposing hitters to a .183/.260/.285 slash line.
"There's a lot of different ways to build a staff," said Preller, who also added a depth starter in the final minutes before the deadline, acquiring struggling left-hander Martin Perez from the Pittsburgh Pirates. "But just having a group that hopefully shortens the game -- we've seen some teams win championships that way. Hopefully that's a real strength for us in the next couple months."