Padres deal MLB's top trade chip for Mason Miller, rotation help in deadline stunner

The San Diego Padres have been pretty quiet thus far ahead of the trade deadline, but there have been a lot of rumblings that AJ Preller could be cooking up something big. The Padres have been fascinated in a trade for Jarren Duran for a long time and he was certainly a trade candidate, but another name that kept popping up in the San Diego rumor mill was Athletics closer Mason Miller.

With closer Robert Suarez a trade candidate, the Padres found themselves in potential need of high leverage bullpen help and adding some rotation reinforcements given their injury situation wouldn't hurt as well.

Well, the Padres managed to take care of both of those things in one blockbuster trade as it is being reported that San Diego is sending top prospect Leo De Vries and three pitchers for the flamethrowing Miller as well as starter JP Sears.

Padres shock the baseball world with blockbuster trade for Mason Miller

Other than the acquisition of Miller who is one of the best relievers in baseball, the other huge news here is that the Padres were willing to part with De Vries at all. De Vries is widely considered to be one of the best prospects in baseball, but the appeal of having Miller under team control through 2029 and adding an innings eater like Sears appears to have been too good to pass up.

The entire tone of the trade deadline has changed now. Preller knew that he had to make a massive splash and boy has he done it with this trade. Adding to the intrigue of the trade, there have been whispers that the Padres could try to convert Miller back into being a starter. If San Diego can get Miller to throw five to six innings at a time with anywhere close to the same stuff he has now, he could become a frontline starter in a hurry.

Of course, this move came at a massive cost. De Vries is still pretty raw, but his raw athleticism and talent is apparent to anyone who watches him and there is a real chance that San Diego just traded away a future perennial All-Star. The three pitchers included in the deal as well are not yet known, so we will have to wait and see what the final damage is to the Padres' talent pipeline.

What this does mean is that the odds Suarez gets traded just went up considerably and San Diego is probably not done swinging big at the deadline. A Dylan Cease trade could be in the cards and if the Red Sox want Cease, perhaps that Duran trade that seemed far-fetched may not be so far-fetched after all.

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