From the outside, it looks calm.
No blockbuster trades. No late-night leaks. No dramatic press conferences announcing sweeping changes. For a franchise used to chaos and bold swings, the Padres’ offseason has felt… restrained.
That alone is what makes people uneasy.
Because when A.J. Preller goes quiet, history says it usually doesn’t last.
San Diego entered the winter with clear needs.
Rotation depth. A first baseman. A designated hitter who could stabilize the lineup. Months later, those questions haven’t vanished — they’ve merely been rephrased.
Michael King’s return mattered. Sung-Mun Song added versatility. Arms like Kyle Hart, Ty Adcock, and Daison Acosta provide depth.
But none of it fundamentally reshaped the roster. None of it erased the feeling that something is still missing.
At Padres FanFest, that reality became harder to avoid.
Manager Mike Shildt’s comments about Gavin Sheets effectively penciling in as the primary first baseman weren’t meant to be alarming — but they were revealing.
The DH spot, meanwhile, appears destined to become a rotating rest station for Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and others.
In other words: flexibility over firepower.
That might be the plan.
Or it might be the placeholder.
Because this is still A.J. Preller’s front office.
Time and again, Preller has operated on a different clock than everyone else. He has waited out markets. Signed players after Spring Training began.
Made moves that felt impossible until they weren’t. Padres fans don’t need reminders — they’ve lived it.
Nick Pivetta’s signing last year came after camp opened. Other deals over the years arrived when optimism had already begun to fade. The pattern is familiar: silence, skepticism, then sudden movement.
That’s why this moment feels unresolved.
Pitchers and catchers report on February 12. That date looms large — but it doesn’t end Preller’s window. It simply raises the stakes. The closer camp gets, the more every non-move feels like a decision.
And yet, there’s still reason to believe the story isn’t finished.
The rotation remains thin on certainty. The lineup still lacks a true middle-of-the-order presence at first base or DH.
Those are not small gaps. They’re the kind of gaps contenders usually address — one way or another.
The “blockbuster trade” teased during the Winter Meetings now feels unlikely. Too many dominoes never fell. Too many conversations went cold.
But that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a smaller, sharper strike — the kind of move that doesn’t dominate headlines but shifts balance.
Preller has never needed spectacle to act.
The Padres’ fan base knows this, which is why the current mood feels split. Some see a roster mostly set, a front office content to trust internal options.
Others see unfinished business and a general manager who has never been afraid of discomfort.
That tension is exactly what SB Nation Reacts is tapping into.
Do fans believe something else is coming? Or has patience finally run out?
The answer may depend less on logic and more on memory. Padres fans remember the years when Preller’s aggression changed the franchise’s identity.
They also remember the risks, the volatility, the whiplash.
What’s different now is context.
This team isn’t rebuilding. It’s recalibrating. Ownership uncertainty looms. Payroll flexibility matters. Every move carries long-term consequences — especially with a sale potentially on the horizon.
That may explain the restraint.
Or it may be the calm before the last adjustment.
Because until the roster is locked, until Opening Day arrives without surprise, one truth remains unavoidable:
You never truly know the Padres’ offseason is over…
until A.J. Preller says it is.
Leave a Reply