Padres' GM Doesn't Regret Trading CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood

Abrams, Gore, and Wood were part of the Juan Soto trade.

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Nearly two years ago, the San Diego Padres traded several of their most promising prospects to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Juan Soto and Josh Bell. In San Diego, it's the first of two infamous "Juan Soto trades."

This week, the Padres are about to reminded of the trade. The Washington Nationals visit Petco Park for three games beginning Tuesday. The Padres gave up prospects James Wood, C.J. Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Luke Voit, Robert Hassell, and Jarlín Susana in the trade, hoping that Soto would help the team win a World Series.

The trade flamed out. Soto was effective in his season and a half with the Padres, but the team was unable to win the World Series as they hoped in 2022, losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in a five-game National League Championship Series.

The Padres fell short of qualifying for the playoffs in 2023 despite Soto putting up 35 home runs and 109 RBIs. After the 2023 season, Soto was traded along with Trent Grisham to the New York Yankees in exchange for Michael King, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe, Randy Vásquez, and Kyle Higashioka.

Despite the trade not resulting in more postseason success, general manager A.J. Preller does not regret making it.

“Honestly, I don’t look back at that one with any regrets," Preller said, via Bryce Miller of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“From our standpoint, we had a team we felt could win the World Series," Preller added. "We thought we had (Fernando) Tatis coming back (before his performance-enhancing drug suspension). We were a few games away from the World Series in ’22."

Since the trade, several former Padres prospects involved in the trade have gone on to see further success. Wood, whom the Padres will face for the first time this week, recently made his MLB debut after being one of the top MLB prospects all season.

“We know we were trading some players who were going to do some really good things in the big leagues,” Preller said, via Miller. “But you’re trading for Juan Soto, an A-lane performer, one of the most impactful forces in the game with control years. You’re going to trade real players to get someone like that."

The Padres did get a decent return back from trading Soto to the Yankees — especially in King, who is 8-6 with a 3.28 ERA this season. With the injuries to Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove, the presence of King has been key for the rotation over the last two months.

These comments from Preller are also in contrast to a report that said the Padres wish they could have the prospects they traded back and regret the trade. It would of course look bad for Preller to say he regrets such a major trade that he made, but there is certainly more to nuance to the thinking behind the trade, even with hindsight.