The Padres turned a waiver wire claim into a top prospect and may do something similar in the coming weeks.

After that, it might be a while before they benefit from the services of players like Brad Hand and Kirby Yates.

Hand, claimed off waivers in April 2016, saved 46 games for the Padres over the past two seasons before being traded to the Indians along with rookie reliever Adam Cimber on Thursday in exchange for minor-league catcher Francisco Mejia.

Yates, who could be next out the door, has a 2.80 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 93 1/3 innings since the Padres claimed him off waivers last April.


They are unquestioned success stories — both for the individuals and the organization.

But similar acquisitions would likely not indicate much success in the future.

“In general you want to get away from (that type of move),” Padres General Manager A.J. Preller said Friday afternoon. “Usually those are guys who are on the bottom of someone else’s roster. As you have more of your guys through the system, more of your guys we feel like are upper tier prospects and championship-type players, there probably will be less of that.”

Similarly, after a few years of making multiple acquisitions in the Rule 5 draft, the Padres did not participate last offseason and likely will not make any selections in 2018.


Said Preller: “It’s becoming harder to do those things, for sure.”

There simply isn’t room on the 40-man roster.

The team, in fact, has some decisions to make after this season about which players currently on the 40-man will stick, as it has a number of top minor-leaguers that have to be protected lest the Padres risk exposing them for pilfering in the Rule 5 draft.

Trades — possibly this month and also in the offseason — are expected to thin out the 40-man roster. They almost have to, because as it stands now, at least five of the Padres’ top 30 prospects have to be added to the roster in the offseason.


That could conceivably factor into any trade decisions before the July 31 deadline.

Given that the Padres believe they are nearer to being a contending club, it makes sense that Mejia is closer to the majors than previous trade acquisitions. Mejia was added to the 40-man roster and optioned to Triple-A.

That was easy for now, as the Padres created two spots by sending Cimber and Hand to Cleveland. And while they have room to maneuver, they are cognizant of that space in everything they do — now and in what is expected to be a busy offseason.

“In general, we’re still going to lean toward best player available,” Preller said. “If we see somebody, for example, in the (Fernando) Tatis mold, who hadn’t played a game at the time we acquired him, I think we still would value that versus a guy who would fill a role and is at the Triple-A level. But each situation is different. … Even with a strong system, you can never have too many good players. We’ll find spots for guys to play if they’re major league caliber players.”


What is as clear as ever is that Preller will stick to whatever price he has placed on his trade chips.

As he did with Craig Kimbrel in 2015, Preller held onto Hand last season when virtually everyone thought he’d be traded. He acknowledged last year’s offerings were not of the caliber of Mejia, and a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic said the Padres’ asking price for Hand from the Yankees was third baseman Miguel Andujar, who is batting .281/.317/.488 with 12 home runs and is a candidate to be American League Rookie of the Year.

A team source said the trade of Hand and Cimber intensified calls from other teams who suddenly knew for sure the Padres were serious about being “open for business.” And virtually everyone on the roster not named Eric Hosmer can be had — for the right price.

But Preller won’t just be shipping off extra parts.


“There will be a lot of discussions,” he said. “We’ll have different targets, different markers we want to get to for a lot of different players. I expect it to be an active 10 days in terms of the discussion. But there’s always a lot of discussion, and it’s always hard to line up.

“Having a sense of each players value internally, what we think and then seeing if we line up with other organizations and see if certain guys we think can make our organization better, seeing if we can access those guys. If not, we understand. In general, a lot of players people are talking about, they are the guys we like. It’s the reason why those teams are talking about them, because they have real value.”

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com