The Padres didn’t go big at the trade deadline. Not selling at all was its own bet

PHOENIX — Just before 3:30 p.m. at Chase Field, two of baseball’s most coveted relievers exited through the front door of the visiting clubhouse. It had been half an hour since the San Diego Padres concluded another trade deadline by pulling off the kind of deal that A.J. Preller has made throughout this decade.

In virtually every example, the direction has been unmistakable.

“We’re trying to win,” said Preller, the Padres’ president of baseball operations. “We don’t apologize for it. We’re trying to win championships. We’re trying to get to the postseason and do it year after year.”

So, after leaving to attend a pitchers’ meeting Monday afternoon — and after weeks of rampant speculation — Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon returned through the same door. They were not going anywhere. Neither was anyone else.

The Padres had kept their roster intact and added, by Preller’s standards, in modest fashion. Desperate for rotation upgrades, they traded two of their best prospects for rental starter Robbie Ray. Later, with minutes to spare, they traded their top pitching prospect for rental starter Casey Mize and infielder Gage Workman. San Diego ultimately did not line up a deal for the proven left-handed hitter Preller sought. Another acquisition, reliever Hunter Stratton, registered as a footnote.

Still, it wasn’t exactly a safe trade deadline under baseball’s most aggressive general manager. The Padres — once on the verge of disaster yet recently emboldened by an 8-1 surge — never appeared close to trading potential free agents such as Morejon, Ty France and Michael King. With their postseason odds still well below 50 percent, opting to replenish a shallow farm system might have been the shrewdest move.

Instead, an hour after the deadline passed, Preller met with reporters via videoconference to discuss why he had forged ahead. Behind him, on the wall of his Petco Park office, hung a framed Sports Illustrated cover that doubles as a reminder: Preller continues to be in the business of acquiring, and keeping, stars.

“I never felt like I was actively being shopped,” Miller, the team’s biggest trade chip, said before Monday night’s 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. “If somebody wanted to make a big offer, I know A.J. would listen. But I know that he likes me and values me here, given what he gave up to get me here last year and the success I’ve had here as well.”

This trade season, in one sense, was not unlike the last. Preller again eyed standout talent. According to league sources who were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor, the Padres at least expressed interest in left-handed hitters Rafael Devers, Corey Seager and Jackson Holliday. The same sources said none of those particular discussions grew serious, with the Padres limited by a bloated payroll and a shortage of high-end prospects.

They settled for addressing their most glaring weakness. It was just days ago that Ray, a two-time All-Star who has stayed effective despite diminished stuff, threw six innings of one-run ball at Petco Park. (“He dominated us,” Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth said.) Mize, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, has finally emerged as one of the sport’s better right-handers. The additions should take the Padres from a temporary two-man rotation to a veteran quartet. Meanwhile, rehabbing pitchers Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove offer the eventual possibility of a full complement.

On paper, the new-look rotation doesn’t come close to the unrivaled collection of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It also beats continuing to rely on “pitching chaos.”

“I may miss it a little bit, but I don’t think I’ll miss it a lot,” manager Craig Stammen said. “It’ll be nice to pencil those guys into the rotation every five days.”

Added Preller, “It really comes back to maximizing our roster and making sure we have the pitching depth to get through August and September. You have to beat the best teams to get to where you want to go, so having guys like Robbie and Casey gives us starting options that we feel can stack up against anyone in October.”

Monday night brought a quick reminder that Preller’s reinforced roster remains far from a shoo-in. Facing a team in playoff position for the first time in 11 days, the Padres were shut out until the seventh. King, the team’s incumbent top starter, surrendered three runs in the kind of big inning that has hurt him throughout a mostly solid season.

The Padres are now two games behind the Diamondbacks, one of three clubs ahead of San Diego in the National League wild-card race. FanGraphs has the odds of a fifth postseason appearance in seven years around 23 percent. The Diamondbacks’ odds are more than double that.

Of course, those odds can swing dramatically this time of year. It’s too early to know if Preller should have pursued at least a partial deadline sale for the first time since 2019, and it will take years to evaluate what the Padres forfeited in Monday’s trades. In the meantime, they have 49 games left to justify Preller’s latest calculated risk.

— Ken Rosenthal contributed to this report.