AJ Preller Reveals Major Condition Padres Set Before Making Mason Miller Trade

Aug 9, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Mason Miller (22) throws a pitch during the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images | David Frerker-Imagn Images

The San Diego Padres were expected to make plenty of moves at the trade deadline.

Even for president of baseball operations A.J. Preller's standards, after the smoke cleared on the last day of July, all that remained was a masterpiece — and an already elite roster fortified for the most important stretch of the season.

By far the biggest deal was adding right-handed relief pitcher Mason Miller to a bullpen that was already among the most feared in baseball. Preller spoke on what led up to the trade, and ensuring that his team was improving in other areas before pulling the trigger.

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“We needed to make sure we knew — to do the first deal with Oakland — that we were going to line up on the bats,” Preller said. “So whether it was Baltimore or a couple of other scenarios we had lined up, I just needed to feel confident that we were going to go to the bats and then catcher.

“We weren’t going to move Leo (De Vries) unless we felt like we could line up other pieces and make this team pretty solid and strong at all levels on the big-league side. If we weren’t going to get there, it didn’t make a lot of sense to do just, like, one of the deals. It made more sense to do a few of those deals together, because we knew we needed to get a catcher. We felt like we improved that position, and we needed to get a couple bats throughout the offense, especially the depth of the lineup. So we weren’t going to make the big deal — Mason Miller — if we weren’t going to be able to round out the team.”

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The bats in question were Ryan O'Hearn and Ramón Laureano (coming off of a walk-off single on Saturday) from the Baltimore Orioles and the catcher acquired was Freddy Fermin from the Kansas City Royals.

O'Hearn is an All-Star first baseman with an undeniable bat. Laureano was hitting .290 before being swapped, and Fermin is currently hitting .370 in his eight games since becoming a Padre.

As for Miller, the All-Star right-hander has another four years of team control, along with a 101.2 mph average fastball, a swing-and-miss rate of 43.5 percent, and a strikeout rate of 40.5 percent, all of which are ranked in the 100th percentile among qualified pitchers.

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