The final day of the MLB Winter Meetings remained quiet for AJ Preller and the San Diego Padres, at least when it came to trades and free agent signings. Preller had his final day of media availability and made his strongest statement of the meetings while discussing the Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors.
When asked by MLB Network if Tatis Jr. was untouchable, Preller responded:
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“He’s someone we’re not talking about, however you want to look at it. If you want to say he’s untouchable, you can say that.”
Has that stopped teams from asking about Tatis? Preller: “No.”
Here’s the interview, in which Preller is as blunt as I heard him in an interview about trading players on the roster. According to other rumors that circulated during the meetings, both Jake Cronenworth and Nick Pivetta were discussed in trade talks. If the prevailing opinions are true and the Padres’ needs must be met with a very limited payroll, trading from the current roster might be the only option. Cleaning up the roster while acquiring talent could also allow the organization to sign a free agent or two.
Parents return to Mexico City
MLB announced that the Padres will travel to Mexico City again in 2026 for a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. April 25 and 26 will be home games for the Dbacks and will be played again at the Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium. In their previous trip to Mexico City, in 2023, the Padres swept the Giants by scores of 16-11 and 6-4, hitting a combined 15 home runs in the stadium that is more than 7,000 feet high. Tickets go on sale January 19 through Ticketmaster.
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Preller’s top lieutenant retires
Logan White, one of AJ Preller’s most trusted lieutenants and head of player development, is retiring. He won the West Coast Explorer of the Year Award and announced his retirement after the award. He has more than 40 years of baseball experience, 10 years as part of Preller’s scouting group.
Preller updates status of Ethan Salas
In a conversation with Sammy Levitt of 97.3 The Fan, Preller updated the status of Padres catching prospect Ethan Salas.
After being very aggressive in challenging the 19-year-old prospect, the Padres are now being very conservative in handling his work. Salas missed most of the 2025 season after suffering a stress reaction in his lower back in April. He has not played a game since then and was rehabbing at the Arizona complex with the goal of entering the Fall League or Winter Leagues. None of those things happened and it looks like we won’t see Salas until February. Hopefully, Salas has truly overcome his injury and can resume his development with a healthy 2026.
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Rule 5 Results Project
The Padres made no selections during the major or minor league phases of the Rule 5 draft. The organization lost two players in the Triple-A round. The Chicago Cubs selected third baseman Devin Ortiz in the third round and the Washington Nationals selected RHP Eiker Huizi in the fifth round.
Huizi currently plays winter ball and is 25 years old. Ortiz, 26, played in Double-A San Antonio last season. None of the Padres’ top 30 unprotected prospects were lost in the draft.
“Sooner rather than later”
Although the Padres didn’t make any major moves during the meetings, Preller told Sammy Levitt that there was progress on several fronts and that he hopes to accomplish some things “sooner rather than later” when it comes to adding depth to the team’s starting rotation.
Albert Pujols will direct Machado and Tatis Jr.
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Although Albert Pujols did not win the manager job with the San Diego Padres, he will continue to manage Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Pujols was officially announced as the manager of the Dominican Republic World Baseball Classic team during the WBC Winter Meetings media day. This will be the third time that Machado represents the Dominican Republic in the WBC. It will be the first time that Tatis Jr. represents his home country in the international tournament. They will play on the same roster as Juan Soto for the event, which will take place during MLB spring training, March 5-17.