The Padres Must Trade Mason Miller Before the Deadline

A year after overpaying for baseball’s best closer, the smart move is for San Diego to move him.

The San Diego Padres have to move Mason Miller at the trade deadline. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Rarely does anyone get the chance at a “do-over” in life. A.J. Preller can be thankful that opportunity has presented itself to him.

Last year, the Padres’ president of baseball operations bet big on a flawed roster at the deadline. Preller wound up consummating five trades that involved a total of 22 players. One of those deals looked like a mistake from the minute it was executed and has only looked worse since. Now he has the chance to reverse it.

San Diego landed then-A’s closer Mason Miller shortly before the 2025 trade deadline. The package heading the other way was genuinely staggering. The headliner in the deal for Miller and pitcher JP Sears was shortstop Leo De Vries, one of baseball’s best prospects then and now. Also heading to the A’s were pitching prospects Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Núñez. As a consensus top-five prospect in the sport, De Vries was arguably the most valuable prospect ever dealt at the trade deadline. The fact that he was shipped out as part of the package for a closer made little sense for a Padres team that already possessed a loaded bullpen. The moves didn't work, as San Diego was bounced from the wild-card round by the Cubs.

That’s not to say Miller hasn’t been phenomenal since landing in San Diego. He is, without a doubt, MLB’s best reliever and arguably its most dominant pitcher. But his impact is limited due to the nature of his role. Meanwhile, De Vries is raking at Double A as a 19-year-old and will likely make the big leagues out of spring training next year. For a San Diego team desperate for consistent offensive contributors, that really stings.

While the trade was foolish and short-sighted, Miller has been everything the Padres could have asked for and more. He has made 62 appearances for San Diego and thrown 65 innings. In that time, he’s 2–1 with a 0.83 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 123 strikeouts against 25 walks. Among pitchers who have thrown at least 60 innings, he’s first in ERA, FIP (0.73), xERA (1.58), xFIP (1.29), strikeouts per nine innings (17.03 K/9) and strikeout rate (50.6%, a frankly absurd and unprecedented statistic—for reference, Randy Johnson holds the record among starting pitchers for career strikeout rate at 28.5%.) Miller hasn't allowed a home run since Aug. 5, which is also the last time he blew a save. There are few words left to describe just how dominant he’s been.

Mason Miller escapes the jam with three straight punchouts to send this game to extras 🔥 pic.twitter.com/woDmGCFj1R

— MLB (@MLB) July 18, 2026

In a perfect world, San Diego would keep him for at least the next few years as he’s not eligible for free agency until after the 2029 campaign. Unfortunately, things aren’t perfect in America’s Finest City. The Padres’ farm system has been hollowed out by years of Preller going all-in on rosters that didn’t warrant that kind of aggressiveness. He has traded top prospects away consistently this decade while angling to make a World Series run. It hasn’t worked and now the franchise has an aging, top-heavy roster, and any reinforncements are years away.

Preller loves to make a splash and grab headlines. He did that in 2022 by surrendering a king’s ransom of prospects to land Juan Soto. That deal also did not pan out. San Diego had Soto for a season and a half before Preller was more or less forced to trade him before he reached free agency. The return package didn’t sniff what the Padres initially gave up for Soto: ’26 All-Stars and franchise cornerstones James Wood and CJ Abrams, ’25 All-Star MacKenzie Gore, current top 100 prospect Jarlin Susana and outfielder Robert Hassell III. The woefully thin Padres could really use those guys right about now.

To be a World Series contender this year, San Diego would need to acquire an ace, a No. 3 starter, and at least three bats. Given the team’s lack of desireable assets, that’s nowhere close to realistic.

Preller has to sell.

Miller’s trade value could help Padres retool

While it is clearly against his nature, Preller needs to let go of as many veterans as he can before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. The Padres don’t have the offense or starting pitching to win a championship this year, and going all-in on another flawed roster would only further bury the franchise’s future.

Miller’s trade value is sky-high and could net San Diego the kind of package it needs to reload. No current general manager other than Preller would surrender a prospect as valuable as De Vries, so there's zero chance the Padres land a package equal to what they surrendered last year. But a deal could likely fetch two top-100 prospects in addition to the kind of organizational depth they’re sorely lacking.

For a true contender, Miller's value can't be understated. He’s the best closer in baseball and virtually automatic with the ball in his hands. For a team one piece away, he’d be worth his weight in gold for making the ninth inning as automatic as it ever could be.

Word around the league is Preller doesn’t want to sell. It's not in his nature to punt on a season. But the reality is what it is, and there’s nothing he can do to make this Padres team a contender this year. If he cares about the long-term health of the franchise, he’ll make the obvious decision.

Preller is baseball’s most exciting general manager, and he’s played a major role in the Padres’ maturation into a $3.9 billion franchise. But the smart move this year is for him to be boring.

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