A.J. Preller emerged from a white Chevy Malibu in front of the Omni Resort & Spa at Montelucia, with its sprawling grounds and vine-strewn courtyards, late Monday afternoon.

The Padres general manager arrived via Uber and with a purpose.

Even if he isn’t projecting it publicly.

His stock speech about the offseason has been delivered a few times already this young offseason.


“Every offseason is crucial” and that sort of thing.

But over the next three days at this five-star resort in the shadow of Camelback Mountain, things could be/should be different. Here and at Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings in San Diego early next month, even Preller acknowledges a shift in the dynamic.

“There will be different conversations this offseason,” he said.

There is an air of anticipation both within and from the outside, as multiple people with knowledge of the Padres’ machinations say Preller is poised to execute moves this week. So close are the Padres to being ready to deal that whether they do could entirely depend on the willingness of other teams to actually consummate.


Whenever moves happen, there seems little doubt they will.

It was conjectured recently inside the Padres offices that Preller could pull some “surprises” this offseason. With a quizzical look, one member of the front office said, “The surprise will be if he doesn’t.”

It has become clear Preller is operating with a mandate.

First, Executive Chairman Ron Fowler vowed “heads will roll” if 2020 is not a significant improvement from the Padres’ nine consecutive losing seasons. Fowler reiterated at least the spirit of the sentiment at last month’s news conference introducing new manager Jayce Tingler. And he essentially never publicly talked about brown jerseys without infusing the topic with proclamations about winning more.


At Saturday’s festive unveiling of those new outfits at Petco Park, Fowler said, “I feel very good about the fan reaction. Now it’s … putting together the type of team in the offseason that we feel can win in 2020 and beyond.”

General partner Peter Seidler has often said in one form or another that the Padres are building for the long term. Frequently, he refers to the span of a “decade” and he recently declared, “Our decade starts on Jan. 1.”

A year ago, as the GM meetings were being held at the Omni in La Costa, multiple people inside the organization virtually assured the Padres would not be in on the pursuits of Manny Machado or Bryce Harper.

A little more than two months later, they had visited with Machado’s agent in Los Angeles and been to Las Vegas for a sitdown with Harper.


Machado signed a 10-year, $300 million deal with the Padres in February. It was the second consecutive offseason, coming after Eric Hosmer’s eight years and $144 million in 2018, in which the Padres were among baseball’s biggest news makers by signing a free agent to the largest contract in franchise history.

Now the belief from the start is the Padres could be players for Stephen Strasburg and possibly Gerrit Cole, the top two starting pitchers on the market this winter. While it is far more likely they focus on Zach Wheeler or a number of other free agent pitchers, there is no predicting which paths the Padres offseason will take.

Still, trades seem the most likely way in which Preller attempts to make his roster better — primarily in the starting rotation and with at least one left-handed bat (likely an outfielder) and perhaps more hitters who can improve the team’s anemic production (29th in batting average, 27th in OPS) against right-handed pitchers.

Preller never sets limits, but he has been realistic while working within the simultaneous lanes of one-, three- and five-year plans. With the target always being 2020 to ’21 as the window in which the Padres expected to throw open their window, he has not until now been motivated to part with many prospects.


Still, a handful of players such as pitcher MacKenzie Gore remain virtually untouchable. But as the Padres get closer to what they believe is a reasonable likelihood of being a postseason participant, it makes sense to be more willing to part with some players that were previously held onto tightly.

“It comes down to value,” Preller said. “We have specific value on each one of our players and a value on the guys we have a chance to trade for. If those line up, we’re going to look to make moves. If they don’t line up, we’ll be patient and wait for things we feel in the free agent market and in the trade market are good opportunities for us.”

Ownership has made it clear it will spend when deemed appropriate, and a $140 million payroll for 2020 (up a net of about $15 million from ’19) is not out of the question. However, the organization almost certainly won’t ever be among the majors leagues’ biggest spenders.

But if young major leaguers and coveted prospects are essentially dollar bills, Preller is flush with that kind of spending power. He has not only the top-ranked farm system with which to work but major league players such as Hunter Renfroe and Austin Hedges that teams have earnestly sought in the past.


“I like what they’re talking about,” Fowler said Saturday night in regard to the discussions ongoing in the baseball operations department. “We know where we have to get better, and they’re focused on it. Up until this last year, we really wanted to make sure how we valued our prospects, whether they’re as strong as we felt they were. But we’re now at a point where he have to — it’s all currency, the (young players) you think are going to be there long term, you develop them and the ones you think you can make your team stronger by moving, you have to look at moving.

“That’s where we are this year. That’s the difference between this year and ’18 and ’19. … We have a lot of guys we can package and come up with what we need to be a better team that can win a lot more games in 2020, and that’s our objective.”