A. J. Preller

I know AJ can be pretty polarizing, but personally as a lifelong fan in my 30s I absolutely love the guy. If we’re not gonna win we may as well be entertaining and he certainly puts an exciting product together and hey he at least puts us in position to have a shot year in and year out. I feel like that’s all I can ask for. I know he’s had some misses but he absolutely kills at building the farm up too. Anyways I feel we are very lucky to have him and I hope it all works out and he’s able to stick around. How do you all feel?

Padres twitter doesn’t really seem to like him. Curious where does Padres Reddit land on him? When does the hot seat get put on him?

I’ll probably get crucified for this post, but I don’t care. A lot of you need to see it. Obviously we’re all extremely frustrated with the team’s performance in the past few weeks, but AJ had an excellent offseason and his moves have been a major boon for this team recently. Let’s review.

Padres received: Jorge Alfaro Marlins received: $400K

Verdict: W | Alfaro is easily the best catcher on the team and we got him for nothing. It’s really as simple as that.

Padres received: Sean Manaea (4.09 ERA) and Aaron Holiday (4.65 ERA in Low-A) Athletics received: Adrian Martinez (5.63 ERA in AAA, 6.52 ERA in MLB) and Euribiel Angeles (.633 OPS in 293 ABs at High-A)

Verdict: W | We got a decent 3rd or 4th starter for two slapdicks that likely won’t do shit in MLB. This was a really good move.

Padres received: Taylor Rogers (4.04 ERA, 24/29 saves) and Brent Rooker (1.010 OPS in AAA) Twins received: Emilio Pagan (4.99 ERA, 9/14 saves) and Chris Paddack (4.03 ERA in 5 starts, won’t play again until 2024)

Verdict: W | Went from a fleece to only a slight win due to how hard Rogers has fallen off, but we dodged a bullet with Paddack and moving Pagan was literally addition by subtraction. Also consider that the Twins are paying Rogers’ contract to keep us under the luxury tax. If Rogers rebounds, this trade is a fleece again.

Padres received: Luke Voit (.718 OPS in 248 ABs, 0.5 WAR) Yankees received: Justin Lange (9.37 ERA in Rookie ball)

Verdict: W | As it stands, we got a serviceable DH with upside for a risky young prospect with great stuff but serious command issues. If Voit gets anywhere close to his career .860 OPS, which is likely given enough ABs and positive regression, this trade is a fleece. Yankees fans’ reactions to this trade speak volumes.

Padres received: Ray Kerr (9.00 ERA in MLB, 3.86 ERA in AAA) and Corey Rosier (.744 OPS in 265 ABs at High-A) Mariners received: Adam Frazier (.595 OPS in 319 ABs, -0.7 WAR) Pirates received: Tucupita Marcano (.637 OPS in 70 MLB ABs) Jack Suwinski (.719 OPS, 14 HRs in 221 MLB ABs), and Michell Miliano (8.14 ERA in High-A)

Verdict: L | Obviously losing Suwinski sucks, even though he’s slightly overrated by this sub. I believe Marcano won’t even stick around in MLB let alone make an impact, but that remains to be seen. Miliano is too young to judge but right now his future looks bleak. Adam Frazier was poor for us, but he’s been abysmal in Seattle. At least Preller recognized his mistake and dumped Frazier for prospects because now he has absolutely zero value.

Padres received: Bob Melvin Athletics received: John Fisher’s naked ass

Verdict: W | Bob Melvin is a great veteran manager who is greatly respected by players. His bullpen management has been questionable at times, but he’s exactly what this crazy Padres clubhouse needed after a disastrous 2021. Many of you forget that Melvin could’ve gone anywhere, but he chose to go to the Padres after having dinner with AJ multiple times. If he believes in Preller, you should too.

Farm System
The Padres farm system is still strong despite multiple trades, almost entirely because Preller is an excellent scout. Among updated 2022 rankings, we’re currently ranked #6 by B/R and #13 by FanGraphs. We’re not a team that’s mortgaged the future in order to win-now like the Braves. Over in the Giants sub, they’re basically looking forward to rebuilding and graduating prospects. But we actually have a better farm system than them and their 2021 Cinderella story is over. You don’t see them calling for Farhan Zaidi to be fired.

In conclusion, AJ Preller’s recent moves have been really good. The vast majority of his disastrous moves (signing Eric Hosmer, extending Wil Myers, etc.) happened over 4 years ago. In fairness, these players are still seriously hurting the team, but Myers’ contract is up after this season and Preller has been trying to offload Hosmer. The Nola trade is his most recent big mistake, and that was back in 2020. That’s the same year he traded for Cronenworth, mind you. You can disparage the Snell trade all you want because of how maddeningly inconsistent he’s been despite having ace potential, but the reality is that Patiño hasn’t done shit yet and Mejia has been absolute garbage, far worse than Nola.

AJ seems to have learned from his mistakes early in his tenure or maybe he’s being reigned in by the rest of the Padres FO. Despite incessant whining by much of our fanbase, Preller did the right thing at the 2021 deadline by mostly standing pat. The Blue Jays massively overpaid for Jose Berrios (who many of you begged for) by trading two Top 100 prospects. Now he’s fallen off a cliff (5.38 ERA, -0.4 WAR) and the Jays just fired their manager. If this team misses the playoffs, Preller deserves to be on the hot seat. But you guys need to chill the fuck out. Firing AJ Preller will not get rid of Eric Hosmer.

Who would you resign or let go, would you make trades, what free agents would you go after?

If the Ohtani payout structure was considered even somewhat of a viable option, there’s no way the Padres trade Soto. But let’s not kid ourselves. The only reason this happened is because it’s Ohtani to the Dodgers. If it’s anyone but Ohtani to almost any other team, this gets vetoed. Maybe the Red Sox or Yankees, but definitely no one else.

AJ Preller’s first full season as Padres GM was 2015.

He is now searching for his 7th manager in 9 years.

2015: Bud Black (fired) 2015: Pat Murphy (interim) 2016-19: Andy Green (fired) 2019: Rod Barajas (interim) 2020-21: Jayce Tingler (fired) 2022-23: Bob Melvin (left) 2024: ?

Min 1:41:21

Look…there’s a great deal that realize the hate is very real for AJ Preller…and ppl think ppl who back him up just a little give unequivocal love because he is somehow perfect…when we realize HE is definitely NOT (it’s been plenty discussed with regards to picking managers, not winning every trade, and building a more complete roster…and we can ALL see that.) The dude seems to have more then a full plate and should recognize he needs more help to help him focus at what he does the best.

Here’s an honest question for you though…

Do you like coach Ruben Niebla…players like Java Joe, Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Yu Darvish, Awe-some Kim, Rob Snelling, and having top 10 prospects like Ethan Salas & Jackson Merrill?

Because if you do…just want to point out that the dude that is getting all the hate is a very big reason for that whether ppl want to give him credit or not.

It seems ppl have a list of names that could easily do a better job then him…but like with anything…who can guarantee that? Nobody.

Ppl keep wondering why Papa Pete keep this guy around…I’ll just give my humble observation…it’s because the dude (and the crew he picked under him) know how to build a farm. All the top prospects he has decided to trade and then tore down the farm…yet he has the backing $$$ of Papa Pete to get it rebuilt and as a result has the uncanny ability to actually do it. He seems to be throwing that $$ at the correct prospects currently.

Now I’m sure all of you know that prospects are never guaranteed…for every Tatis Jr….there is a Yosmany Tomas…for every Darvish…there is a Hideki Irabu.

You want to know why this guy gets to stay? Because he’s hitting more often then missing on a lot of these prospects…he keeps some….and then he uses some of that prospects to land fan favorites like Soto, Java Joe, Hader, Blake Snell, etc.

If he wasn’t doing that…you guys who want him gone so badly would have a better chance of seeing that come to fruition.

My purpose was to help you guys who keep asking (why is AJ still here) that question have some kind of rationale that I hope you are really open minded to…

…I can only lead you to the water…but I can’t make you drink…