Padres General Manager A.J. Preller has been doing a lot of talking with a lot of clubs over the last few days. He told NBC 7 Sports Wrap conversations have been had with at least 15 different big league teams.
As Preller keeps trying to massage a deal Padres Manager Andy Green held court on Day 3 of the Winter Meetings. When asked what his wish list for Preller is he had more concerns for the GM’s well-being than the roster construction.
“To actually get out of the suite for more than five minutes other than talking to you guys,” said Green. “I don’t think he leaves the suite so to actually walk outside for a while.”
Although the 2018 meetings are in the Nevada desert Preller is not interested in getting his Vitamin D right now. Instead he’s trying to find any way he can to make the Padres better for years to come.
“We know what we’re looking for,” said Green. “We’ve been very precise with what we’re looking for. At this point in time if the price doesn’t come down to what A.J. wants to pay we’re going to continue to move forward with our guys. We’re really excited with the depth we have especially from a pitching perspective throughout the organization.”
And that is what’s causing part of the stalemate. The Padres do have some of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball. In fact they have seven pitchers in the Top-100 prospects (via MLB Pipeline) and four of them are left-handers.
Other teams know what the Padres have and of course they’re going to ask for the moon.
“There are a lot of teams that love our young pitching,” said Green. “We know what we did last year at the Major League level with starting pitching. That is a real area of need for us.”
And here’s the very treacherous rub for the Padres. If Preller is going to give up some of his chips he’s going to have to get back very good big league players with several years of team control remaining on their contract status.
They could part with a couple of top prospects for a proven stud like Mets All-Star Noah Syndergaard, who still has three years of team contract control left. But the guys they have in the system are expected to be All-Stars themselves, so what if they make a deal and end up giving away the next Clayton Kershaw, a guy MacKenzie Gore has been compared to?
It’s a dangerous game they play and they seem like they are not willing to mortgage the future to get anything less than a surefire superstar.
“Obviously we haven’t been overwhelmed with anything at this point in time,” said Green. “I think we know A.J. and our front office are going to continue to look, continue to work, but we feel good about where we are right now. If we end up with one of the absolute best farm systems in the game, if not the best, and we’re moving into Spring Training with that group of guys I think we’re excited about what’s coming still.”
And so the Padres keep talking to the rest of baseball looking for a deal that will make them competitive without short-circuiting the “process” they’ve been dedicated to for a few years now.