The San Diego Padres kept themselves plenty busy during the trade deadline. They added multiple pieces to help fill some holes in the hope that they can make another postseason appearance later on this season. The club added sluggers Ryan O'Hearn and Ramon Laureano, Freddy Fermin, and Jorge Quintana.
San Diego also got some pitching during the trade deadline. They acquired Nestor Cortes in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, and JP Sears and Mason Miller in a trade with the Athletics. Miller is one of the most substantial trades this season, quickly becoming one of the most dominant closers in all of baseball.
The Padres were set on trading for Miller, but only if a certain condition was met. General manager A.J. Preller details that the club knew they needed to get some bats before entertaining that idea, via Sports Illustrated's Gabe Smallson.
"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," said Preller. "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."
All the cards fell in favor of Preller, and he was able to make the trade for Miller. He has appeared in five games for San Diego this season, putting together a 3.38 ERA while consistently commanding his fastball over 100 mph.