Padres Have Sent Clear Message to Teams Pursuing Mason Miller

The San Diego Padres don't need to trade Mason Miller ahead of next week's deadline.

In fact, at this point, it would come as a surprise if Miller is ultimately moved.

Miller is the best reliever in baseball. He's under team control for three more seasons. He even told Padres On SI earlier this year that he wants to be in San Diego long-term.

With that being said, Miller has found himself in trade rumors for two main reasons.

Just about every team in baseball would love to have him.
You can never count anything out with Padres president of baseball operations AJ Preller.

Thus, until the 3 p.m. PT deadline passes on Aug. 3, Miller's name will be involved in trade rumors. And according to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Padres are engaging in Miller talks with opposing teams, but are giving them one clear message in any potential negotiations.

"The Padres have told teams that if you want access to Mason Miller, then nobody is off limits in your organization," Passan said on his podcast, "Sources Tell Jeff Passan."

This is a major development for a few reasons.

First, it's now been revealed that the Padres are, in fact, discussing Miller trades, meaning the team is at least open to moving the All-Star reliever.

Additionally, the team's asking price is starting to become more public — and the Padres clearly want a ton to trade their best player.

While the Padres aren't going to get what they gave up for Miller — one of baseball's best prospects in Leo De Vries plus three more prospects — the team should still command a considerable haul.

For one, Miller is pitching even better than he was at the time of last year's trade, sporting a microscopic 0.82 ERA across 43.2 innings with 80 strikeouts.

Additionally, when he was traded last year, Miller wasn't considered to be widely available. Thus, there wasn't exactly a bidding war for his services.

This time around, the Padres would make it known to opposing teams that he's available (as they already are), forcing them to compete with each other to put together the most favorable package.

The New York Yankees have been the team most consistently linked to Miller, as they would love him to be their closer of the future. It's been reported that they deem their top prospect George Lombard Jr. "untouchable" in trade talks.

However, it appears the Padres would want them to alter that stance if they truly hope to strike a deal.

Passan said that some teams have decided to "pump the brakes" on a potential Miller trade following that message from San Diego. However, he expects talks to continue over the final six days before the trade deadline.

"That is a tack that some teams have said, 'You know what, we're gonna pump the brakes on this now,'" Passan said. "I would anticipate that those teams will check back in toward the end of this week as the Monday deadline approaches."

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