Padres News: Former GM Praises AJ Preller for Trade Deadline Moves

He definitely upgraded the Padres, for better or for worse.

The San Diego Padres had a busy trade deadline. On the August 1 deadline, the team made three trades.

They added Rich Hill and Ji-Man Choi from the Pirates, Garrett Cooper and Sean Reynolds from the Marlins and Scott Barlow from the Royals.

While tons of pundits have questioned the Padres’ decision to go all-in at the deadline, one expert and former general manager, Jim Bowden, had tons of praise for GM AJ Preller and the Friars.

In his superlatives article for The Athletic, he had three positive things to say regarding San Diego, starting with Preller.

“Most creative GM: A.J. Preller of the Padres. He improved the pitching with deals for Scott Barlow and Rich Hill, and improved the DH spot with the pickups of Garrett Cooper and Ji Man Choi. He improved around the edges enough and sent a message to the clubhouse that he believed in them. The Padres’ one-run and extra-inning losses should start turning into wins in August and September.”

Next, he applauded the Padres for improving the morale in the clubhouse. 

“Team that did the most to improve clubhouse morale: The Padres … for buying, not selling despite their disappointing season thus far.”

And finally, he loved the trade for Barlow. 

“Most “under-the-radar reliever” traded: Scott Barlow, who was having a down season with the Royals but was an elite closer the past several years. He bolsters the Padres’ bullpen.”

There’s no denying that the trades provided a clubhouse jolt, and Preller definitely succeeded in upgrading the margins for this team.

However, it remains to be seen if it will work. And if the Padres miss the postseason this year, Preller will have a lot of questions to answer, most notably why he didn’t trade Blake Snell and Josh Hader to replenish the farm system when they were headed to free agency in a few months.