AJ Preller keeps Padres' quietly ruthless arbitration habit intact on deadline day

Arbitration deadline day is usually baseball’s annual group chat meltdown. Numbers leak. Players and their agents posture while teams dig in. Somebody will always wind up in the headlines for the wrong reasons. This offseason, you could argue it’s the Detroit Tigers — thanks to the wide gap between their filing and Tarik Skubal’s.

And then there are the San Diego Padres, doing what they always do on arbitration day: disappearing from the headlines.

San Diego announced it reached agreements with all six of its arbitration-eligible players before Thursday’s deadline to exchange salary figures. Jason Adam, Adrián Morejón, Gavin Sheets, JP Sears, Mason Miller, and Freddy Fermin. Luis Campusano (also arb-eligible) already got his 2026 deal done back in November. 

Padres’ strangely peaceful arbitration deadline is becoming a tradition

Here’s the part fans don’t always think about: salary arbitration isn’t just “talking money.” It’s a process that can get weirdly personal, because if you don’t settle, both sides exchange figures and then present a case to a panel — and the panel picks one number, not a compromise. 

Which means the uncomfortable subtext is always the same: your team is literally preparing an argument for why you’re not worth what you think you are.

Preller has basically decided that’s not how he wants to do business — at least not with his own players. Since he was hired as GM in 2014, no Padre has gone to an arbitration hearing during his tenure. MLB.com notes the last Padre to go all the way to a hearing was Andrew Cashner, prior to the 2014 season. 

That streak now extends again. MLB.com frames it as the club avoiding arbitration with all eligible players for the 12th straight year, which is both kind of wild and extremely on-brand for the way this front office operates. 

Calling it “nice” is an undersell. This is efficient. The Padres now have their salary obligations set for 2026, and they can move forward without any lingering tension that arbitration can put in a clubhouse. 

And while the team didn’t disclose every salary figure publicly, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported Morejón will make $3.9 million and Sheets will make $4.5 million. 

That’s the Padres’ whole vibe on deadline day: no theatrics, no public brinksmanship, no messy “file-and-trial” energy. Just a front office that — whatever else you think about it — clearly values keeping working relationships clean. Because happy players don’t just play better. They also don’t spend February sitting in a room listening to their own team explain why they’re replaceable.