A.J. Preller Meets with Bud Black, Team

Here at FriarsOnBase.com, we’ve been swarming all over the coverage of the San Diego Padres’ hiring of their new GM, A.J. Preller, for the past six days, so it’s surprising to find out that Preller didn’t meet manager Bud Black until Sunday, or the Padres’ players and coaching staff until Monday.

Of course, the Padres were on the road when the news that the front office had finalized the decision to hire Preller broke last Tuesday, and then held the press conference to announce it on Wednesday. They were quietly going about their business of putting together a winning 3-2 record on a two-city road trip.

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So Preller and Black finally met face-to-face on Sunday, when Black stopped by Petco Park after returning from the road trip. Preller was at the ballpark watching the Perfect Game All-American Classic, no doubt getting in some travel-free scouting at the annual high school all-star game, which was being held at Petco for the sixth consecutive year.

On Monday before batting practice, Preller met with Black and the coaching staff, then met with the entire team for about 10 minutes. Black was not disappointed with the short visit.

"“It’s been a whirlwind for him. He has a lot going on,” Black said. “In time, we’ll catch up. I do know he loves to talk baseball. He made it a point that he wants to talk about our players and get to know them and our staff. We’ll have plenty of time moving forward.”"

h/t to Dennis Lin of utsandiego.com

Andrew Cashner was pretty stoked to meet Preller, saying “It’ll be exciting to see where he takes us. He was very energetic.”

Preller has plans to visit some of the minor league franchises as well, according to Lin. He has already been to Lake Elsinore to see the Single-A Storm. He went there on his first day of work as a Padre, right after his introductory press conference. We’ve heard that he’s a workaholic. With a job that’s entirely focused on baseball, who could blame him?