Mason Miller joined the San Diego Padres at the 2025 trade deadline, and his acquisition came at a steep price. The top prospect in the San Diego organization, Leodalis De Vries, had to be in the return for Miller and left-hander JP Sears. Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller paid the price for one of the top closers in MLB with four-plus years of control, but the move was questioned by many. To his credit, Preller banked on MLB experience, which Miller had, and took
a risk that the loss of De Vries, as vaunted a prospect as he is, may not hurt too bad in the future. He also saw an opportunity for Miller to become an even better closer under the tutelage of pitching coach Ruben Niebla. So far, Miller has made the trade a success. Prior to a throwing error on a pickoff attempt in the second game against the Los Angeles Dodgers this week, Miller coming into the game was a winning recipe for the Padres. He did not enter in a save situation, but manager Craig Stammen believed that Miller could get through the top of the ninth with the game tied, which would give San Diego a chance to win it in the home half of the inning. That opportunity was lost and so was the game, but it was not because Miller could not throw strikes, he rushed a throw to first base and Ty France could not bring it in, which put the runner at third with one out. He later scored on a sacrifice fly and that was all the Dodgers needed. Miller is looking for an opportunity to erase that memory and he may get the chance over the next three days against the Athletics. It is not a sure thing we see Miller in one of these games, but for now he is the biggest piece of the trade between the two teams that has any chance at making an impact at the MLB level. That may change when De Vries finally makes his debut, but that will not be this week or any time soon.
Padres News:
- The Padres offense has struggled to find its stride this season, and that is in large part due to the stars like Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill getting off to slow starts. That has not affected the defensive play of Tatis, who has returned to the infield dirt and has assumed the role of starting second baseman.
- It was a tough day for San Diego minor league affiliates with El Paso and Fort Wayne taking losses.
- Preller is not waiting for the trade deadline to start looking to improve his team. It may come as somewhat of a surprise that the Padres general manager is looking at improving the team’s biggest and most consistent strength – the bullpen.
Baseball News:
- The New York Yankees were held to just three hits by five Toronto Blue Jays pitchers in a 2-0 loss.
- Yankees send Spencer Jones back to minors.
- The Cleveland Guardians got a 3-1 win to complete a four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers.
- Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who had surgery two weeks ago, is throwing bullpens and his velocity is already near game speed.
- The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins, 9-3 but their superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. left the game early with a thumb injury.
- Corbin Carroll gets walk-off hit to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Colorado Rockies, 2-1.
- The Athletics got a comeback win over the Los Angeles Angels and Luis Severino.
