11:47am: The 2 groups have introduced the commerce.
10:25am: The Padres are as soon as once more grabbing deadline headlines, reportedly swinging a commerce that’ll deliver star nearer Mason Miller and lefty JP Sears to San Diego whereas sending a four-player bundle led by prime shortstop prospect Leo De Vries again to the Athletics. The A’s may even add right-handers Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Nunez within the blockbuster deal.
It’ll go down as one of many extra gorgeous trades of the 2025 deadline. Miller is among the sport’s most extremely regarded relievers — an All-Star and fourth-place finisher in American League Rookie of the 12 months voting simply final season. He’s managed for an additional 4 years past the present season. De Vries, in the meantime, presently sits because the No. 5 prospect in the complete sport on Baseball America’s newest rankings.
It additionally units the stage for a good bit of different dealing from the Padres, who’ve been discussing present nearer Robert Suarez and righty Dylan Stop in commerce talks. Both or each may change fingers now in trades that concurrently web youthful expertise and unlock payroll house for San Diego to pursue upgrades in left subject, behind the plate and/or on the bench. Each Miller and Sears are nonetheless of their pre-arbitration years and thus incomes simply over the league minimal. USA As we speak’s Bob Nightengale suggests that there aren’t any present plans to commerce Suarez, although with president of baseball operations A.J. Preller on the helm for the Padres, nothing ought to ever be expressly dominated out. ESPN’s Buster Olney studies that each Suarez and Stop are nonetheless being mentioned.
The addition of Miller strengthens what was already a powerhouse San Diego bullpen (although, as talked about, may set the stage for a Suarez commerce as nicely). San Diego relievers have pitched to an MLB-best 2.97 earned run common on the season and rank fifth with a collective 24.1% strikeout price.
Miller, regardless of carrying a reasonably pedestrian 3.76 ERA, will present a large improve. The vast majority of his hassle this 12 months got here in a tough month from early Might to early June. He’s rattled off 14 innings of one-run ball with 18 strikeouts and 4 walks since June 15 and, after all, was one of the vital dominant bullpen arms within the recreation a 12 months in the past. Miller has pitched 136 2/3 huge league innings and carries a 3.16 ERA with a superlative 37.3% strikeout price and 10.2% stroll price. He’s saved 48 video games and tallied one maintain in his profession to this point and has blown solely six alternatives.
Definitely, the instruments are there for Miller’s bottom-line outcomes to align with the perfect arms within the sport. Nobody in baseball throws more durable than his common 101.1 mph four-seamer, and Miller’s 20.4% swinging-strike price trails solely Josh Hader and Fernando Cruz for the highest mark amongst pitchers with even 10 innings pitched this season. Courting again to 2024, he’s fanned practically 41% of his opponents and saved his stroll price underneath 10%. Even in an period the place energy arsenals with premium bat-missing capability appear to proliferate the game, the 6’5″ Miller stands above the remaining in a tier practically unto himself.
It’s price at the least contemplating the likelihood that Miller may return to the rotation sooner or later down the highway. Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of The Athletic instructed final night time that it was an thought the Padres had thought-about. Miller was drafted as a starter and made his huge league debut within the Athletics’ rotation. Given the Friars’ lack of rotation depth and plethora of gifted relievers, they may at the least discover the thought of returning Miller to a beginning position starting subsequent season, although there’s clearly some danger in eradicating him from a job through which he’s discovered such success.
No matter which position Miller holds in the long term, it appears possible he’ll work in reduction for the stability of the present season. He’s not but arbitration-eligible — although he will likely be this winter — and is managed for 4 further seasons, so it’s solely pure that the asking worth on the right-hander was exorbitant. The Padres have repeatedly rebuffed groups who’ve come calling for De Vries or prime catching prospect Ethan Salas, however San Diego in the end relented to be able to purchase four-plus seasons of arguably the sport’s most dominant reliever and Sears — a decent back-of-the-rotation arm who may also help solidify the employees for three-plus years in his personal proper.
Sears, 29, got here to the A’s alongside Ken Waldichuk and Luis Medina within the commerce sending Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. He’s the one one of many pitchers (on both facet of the deal) that has held up with no main damage.
Whereas Sears is a pure back-end starter, he’s been a sturdy supply of aggressive innings for the A’s. The 5’11” southpaw began 32 video games in each 2023 and 2024, and he’s taken the mound 22 occasions in 2025. This 12 months’s 4.95 ERA is a career-high, although like teammate Luis Severino, extra of these struggles have come at dwelling in what’s proving to be a hitter-friendly setting at West Sacramento’s Sutter Well being Park. Sears has a 5.48 ERA and has allowed 14 homers in 47 2/3 innings at dwelling, in comparison with a 4.55 mark and 9 round-trippers in 63 1/3 innings on the highway.
Over Sears’ previous 464 innings with the A’s, the lefty has labored to a mixed 4.58 ERA. He’s fanned 20.1% of his opponents in that point and saved his stroll price to a powerful 6.7%. Sears sits 92.2 mph on his four-seamer and {couples} that pitch with a slider that sits 79.5 mph and a changeup that’s averaging 83.4 mph this 12 months. He’s averaging simply over 5 innings per begin.
Sears now slots right into a rotation group that features Stop (for now), Nick Pivetta, Yu Darvish, Ryan Bergert and Randy Vasquez. High starter Michael King has been out for greater than two months however is predicted to return earlier than season’s finish. Each Stop and King are free brokers at season’s finish.
San Diego has been hopeful of re-signing King, although that’s no assure. Subsequent 12 months, they’ll get Joe Musgrove again from Tommy John surgical procedure. A 2026 rotation may nicely embody Musgrove, Pivetta, Darvish, Sears and considered one of Bergert/Vasquez/Stephen Kolek, although the return of King or acquisition of different rotation arms clearly can’t be dominated out. Regardless, Sears provides some good depth and can stay inexpensive. He additionally nonetheless has a pair of minor league choice years remaining, giving the Friars loads of flexibility with the composition of that employees.
The A’s have been reluctant to maneuver Miller, however San Diego’s willingness to incorporate De Vries absolutely pushed issues over the sting. He’s one of the best prospect moved at a commerce deadline for the reason that Padres gutted their farm system to accumulate Juan Soto three years in the past. As we speak’s entrance places of work are typically loath to half with prospects who’ve reached this stage of acclaim, however the Preller-led Padres are essentially the most aggressive in baseball relating to the commerce market.
Nonetheless simply 18 years outdated, De Vries is a switch-hitting shortstop with energy who’s having success in Excessive-A regardless of his youth. Extra superior and skilled opponents haven’t fazed him. He’s hitting .245/.357/.410 (116 wRC+) with eight homers and eight steals regardless of being one of many youngest gamers within the league. He attracts above-average grades throughout the board in most scouting studies, together with his uncooked energy, specifically, producing plus marks.
De Vries is listed at 6’2″ and 183 kilos, though given his age, he may nonetheless develop into extra bulk and faucet extra into his uncooked energy. Baseball America describes him as a possible “centerpiece of a giant league membership,” touting an all-fields method from the left facet of the plate and a pull-heavy method from the fitting facet that lets him get to that energy extra regularly. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen is a little more bearish, albeit solely relative to his elite rating at BA and at MLB.com (the place he’s ranked third within the recreation). Citing questions on his defensive aptitude and a few swing-and-miss, FanGraphs’ report calls De Vries “solely” a top-40 or so prospect within the recreation and has him as extra of a powerful common than a celebrity.
As with every prospect, there’s a reasonably broad vary of outcomes, however De Vries’ ceiling is greater than most and he’s on monitor to achieve the majors at an uncommonly younger age, giving the A’s extra management over his peak bodily seasons. A name to the majors in 2027 appears fairly possible, and in a best-case situation he may even debut late subsequent 12 months. If De Vries incurs accidents or takes a bit longer to regulate to upper-level pitching, that debut may push again to 2028, however even then he’d be in simply his age-21 season. Regardless, when the vary of possible outcomes is mostly agreed upon as one thing between “above-average on a regular basis shortstop” to “celebrity centerpiece of a staff,” we’re speaking about one of many recreation’s premier younger skills.
De Vries is the clear headliner of the deal, however the three arms headed again to the A’s are hardly mere throw-ins. Nett and Baez have been reportedly among the many extra sought-after prospects within the second tier of a skinny Padres farm system. Each are posting robust numbers in Double-A this season.
Nett, 23, has began 17 video games and pitched 74 1/3 innings. He’s logged a 3.39 ERA, 26.3% strikeout price, 10.4% stroll price and 42.3% ground-ball price. Nett signed with the Padres as an undrafted free agent in 2022 and has pitched his approach into real prospect standing.
Baseball America ranked Nett seventh amongst San Diego prospects earlier this month. He sits third of their system at MLB.com and twelfth at FanGraphs. He sits 95-97 mph with a fastball that may climb to 99 mph. Nett’s slider will get above-average grades from scouts and works with a cutter, changeup and curveball that might all use some further refinement. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible this offseason and can absolutely be chosen to the A’s 40-man roster by November — if he’s not known as upon for a significant league look within the season’s last two months.
Baez, in the meantime, ranked sixteenth within the system at BA, thirteenth at MLB.com and twenty seventh at FanGraphs. He’s posted a 1.96 ERA in 20 Double-A begins this season however has averaged underneath 5 innings per outing. Baez sits within the low to mid-90s together with his fastball and tops out round 97. He has higher command than Nett however lesser velocity and misses fewer bats. He additionally incorporates a curveball within the higher 70s and a mid-80s changeup. Baez was already on San Diego’s 40-man roster and can thus go proper onto the Athletics’ 40-man roster as nicely.
The 26-year-old Nunez has already made his main league debut, tossing 4 2/3 innings out of the Padres’ bullpen this 12 months. He’s a pure bullpen prospect who can step proper into supervisor Mark Kotsay’s reduction corps, if the A’s select. He’s sat 97.9 mph together with his four-seamer in his temporary huge league look, and Nunez has sat even greater (98.8 mph) in Triple-A. He {couples} that pitch with an upper-80s slider and a seldom-used curveball within the low to mid-80s.
San Diego signed Nunez as a minor league free agent over the winter, and he’s made enormous good points with what had been beforehand poor command within the Cubs’ system. Nunez walked 22% of his opponents with Chicago’s Triple-A membership a 12 months in the past. His 14% mark in Triple-A this season remains to be problematic however nowhere close to as alarming. He additionally boasts a large 38.6% chase price within the minors and an outrageous 21.5% swinging-strike price.
If Nunez may even come near replicating these charges within the majors, he’d have the potential to be a high-end reduction arm himself. That stated, it’s price taking into account that Nunez is already older than the elite reliever for whom he was simply traded (Miller), and that is first time he’s actually proven any semblance of command within the higher minors. There’s upside right here, however Nunez remains to be very a lot a piece in progress.
There’s not often a uninteresting deadline relating to Preller, and this morning’s early and nonetheless pretty gorgeous swap of considered one of MLB’s most coveted prospects for considered one of its finest huge league relievers leaves loads of time for additional dealing. The Padres have been linked to left fielders like Cleveland’s Steven Kwan and Boston’s Jarren Duran whereas concurrently exploring offers involving Stop, Suarez and different members of the present huge league roster. Extra fireworks are absolutely on the way in which, however Preller and his Oakland West Sacramento counterpart, David Forst, have kicked issues off with a bang.
Espn’s Jeff Passan first reported the commerce of Miller and Sears to the Padres and was additionally first with the complete particulars on the Athletics’ return.
