Padres’ AJ Preller just got screwed out of end-of-season award by Brewers GM

C’mon, man!

The San Diego Padres just had one of the best seasons in franchise history. Were it not for a total collapse during the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, it’s quite possible that the Padres would be enjoying their first-ever World Series championship. Padres President of Baseball Operations AJ Preller deserves a lot of credit for assembling a championship-caliber team.

But that’s not the way Preller’s fellow front office executives feel. Milwaukee Brewers Senior Vice President and General Manager Matt Arnold was named the MLB Executive of the Year — an award voted on prior to the postseason. Sorry folks, but this one just doesn’t pass the smell test.

Padres’ AJ Preller just got screwed out of end-of-season award by Brewers GM Matt Arnold

Kudos to Arnold, right? It must have been a difficult task gathering enough talent in order to win the loser-laden NL Central Division. Stick with me for one minute. The Brewers won a division with the exact same record as the Padres, but their division opponents included the perpetually pathetic Pittsburgh Pirates, the woefully underwhelming Cincinnati Reds, the stunningly awful Chicago Cubs, and the aging (and soon-to-be rebuilding) St. Louis Cardinals.

Meanwhile, Preller and Co. traded away one of the top-three players in all of baseball and got better! The Padres traded Juan Soto this past offseason, much to the chagrin of the Friar faithful, and in return received a handful of pitchers and a backup catcher. But one of the those pitchers was frontline starter Michael King, and pitching prospect Drew Thorpe was part of another trade that brought Dylan Cease to San Diego.

Preller also oversaw a budget reduction from $256 million in 2023 to $171 million in 2024. Preller’s Padres lost Michael Wacha, Nick Martinez, Josh Hader, and the reigning NL Cy Yound Award winner Blake Snell, and still won more games. The Padres were 11 games better in 2024 than in 2023, while the Brewers gained one measly game in the standings from 2023 to 2024. Great job, Mr. Arnold.

But let’s set the win-loss records and offseason moves aside for a moment, and focus on the MLB trade deadline. That crucial time of year when MLB executives are figuring out how to outmaneuver each other. How did the Brewers handle the trade deadline? They were outbid by their division rival for Erick Fedde and settled for Frankie Montas. Meanwhile, Preller was wheeling and dealing to acquire Tanner Scott and Jason Adam, not to mention the early-spring addition of Luis Arráez and March acqusition of Dylan Cease.

At the end of the day, this is just another meaningless award, right? While it would have been nice for Preller to receive the adulation he and the organization righty deserve, it feels rather empty while the job is still not finished. Maybe next season (when the Padres are World Series champions) will be a better time to celebrate Preller’s success.