Padres draw a line in the sand with their high-leverage relievers

A.J. Preller's desire to complete a blockbuster trade despite limited financial resources and practically no notable prospects to speak of is admirable, though there are some lines even he won't reportedly cross.

As Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune reported after the Winter Meetings, the San Diego Padres know how valuable their high-leverage relievers with team control remaining are — and they won't trade them away for the sake of shuffling parts around.

Padres' path to getting better will hinge on A.J. Preller's boldness

Besides Nick Pivetta and Fernando Tatis Jr., most fans assumed Mason Miller was the most untouchable player on the roster this offseason. However, much like his two star teammates, the Padres' closer is suddenly the subject of some rumor mill smoke.

Miller, 27, is one of the best pitchers in baseball and has four years of team control remaining via arbitration. After surrendering top shortstop prospect Leo De Vries (and others) for Miller (and JP Sears) at the trade deadline, Preller should simply not be willing to deal his closer for anything less than an equivalent prospect or a truly elite starting pitcher.

With Robert Suarez leaving for the Braves in free agency, Miller is simply too valuable to the bullpen's operations nowadays. He ran a 0.77 ERA and 1.12 FIP after landing in San Diego in 2025 and struck out eight of the nine hitters he faced in the postseason. Behind the league's best (and fastest) fastball, he should be a dominant closer for the next half-decade.

Beyond Miller, though, Acee reported that all of the Padres' high-leverage guys — Adrian Morejon, David Morgan, and Jeremiah Estrada — will likely only be given up for a ransome. If one were to be dealt, Estrada appears to be the early favorite.

Though some may clamor for the team to deal from a position of strength in order to reinforce the lineup or address the many glaring needs in the rotation, it's clear why the Padres are adopting this attitude toward their top relievers.

With Suarez out of the picture and Jason Adam's recovery timeline uncertain, the Padres' number of elite arms in the bullpen has shrunk in recent months. That's problematic for a team that is now built around shortening games with an elite late-inning relief crew. Dealing any one of the aforementioned quartet could help another facet of the team, but it may remove any margin of error from the team's standing atop the bullpen rankings next year.

As always, there's an important caveat here: A.J. Preller is running the team. Nothing is off limits with him calling the shots.

But, as of now, it sounds like the Padres will hold on to tight to their best leverage arms. It remains to be seen if any trade partner can get Preller to back off that stance.