The San Diego Padres are coming off a season in which they won just 66 games and finished last in the NL West, but they feel good about the moves their general manager made heading into 2019.
When Padres players entered their clubhouse on Wednesday morning, a shirt that featured general manager AJ Preller’s face and the message “In Preller We Trust” was hanging at every locker.
These T-shirts were hanging in every locker when the Padres arrived in the clubhouse this morning: pic.twitter.com/ZB7L50QSr3
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) March 20, 2019
The Padres named Preller their general manager back in 2014, and it wasn’t that long ago that it looked like he might be dismissed. If you remember, Preller was suspended by MLB for 30 days following some shady antics when he traded left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz to the Boston Red Sox in 2016.
All is apparently forgiven now, and the Padres are obviously pleased that Preller was able to beat out the big-market teams to sign Manny Machado to a $300 million deal this offseason. While Machado has already tried to temper expectations heading into his first season in San Diego, the Padres are clearly confident with where they’re at.
