Matt Higgins
In a move that stunned the baseball world, the San Diego Padres traded for elite closer Mason Miller from the Athletics despite the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees and New York Mets pushing hard for him. So how did the Padres end up with the best reliever at the trade deadline?
According to The Athletic’s senior baseball writer Ken Rosenthal, it’s because those three teams wouldn’t include their top prospects while the Padres were willing to part with 18-year-old shortstop Leo de Vries — who MLB Pipeline ranks as the third-best prospect in baseball.
The Phillies weren’t willing to trade their top pitching prospect Andrew Painter for Miller, so they pivoted to Jhoan Duran and sent pitcher Mick Abel and catcher Eduardo Tait to the Minnesota Twins.
The Yankees refused to give up outfield prospects George Lombard Jr. or Spencer Jones, though Brian Cashman and company might be regretting that decision. Their newly-acquired relievers — David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird — have gotten off to rough starts. Bird’s struggles were so severe that he was demoted to Triple-A on Tuesday after surrendering a three-run walk-off home run to Josh Jung in the Yankees’ 8-5, 10-inning loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday.
The A’s, however, thought the Mets would be the ones to land Miller.
“One source briefed on the Mets’ conversations described the team’s pursuit of Miller as ‘very serious,’ representing the talks with the A’s as ‘substantial,'” reports Rosenthal. “But the talks failed to advance, and the Mets in the final two days before the deadline acquired two other relievers, Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley, after adding Gregory Soto earlier.”
That’s when the Padres stepped in and acquired Miller and starting pitcher J.P. Sears for de Vries, right-handed pitcher Braden Nett (Athletics’ No. 5 prospect), right-handed pitcher Henry Baez (Athletics’ No. 9 prospect) and right-handed pitcher Eduarniel Nunez (Athletics’ No. 16 prospect).
San Diego now has Miller under control through 2029 before he becomes a free agent. The team also might stretch him out as a starter for 2026.
