A.J. Preller Suspended Thirty Days For Failure To Disclose Medical Information
By Jeff Todd | September 16, 2016 at 11:10am CDT
SEPT. 16: Lin reports that in addition to suspending Preller for 30 days, MLB has also fined the Padres an undisclosed amount (Twitter link).
SEPT. 15, 6:33pm: Despite the fact that other teams also complained, no additional punitive action is expected to be taken against Preller or the Padres, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune reports on Twitter.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports adds a detail on the underlying issues, via Twitter. San Diego failed to disclose oral medications taken by Pomeranz and other traded players, he says.
6:12pm: The Padres have released a pair of statements on the matter. Preller says that he "accept[s] full responsibility" but claims "there was no malicious intent … to conceal information or disregard MLB's recommended guidelines."
Meanwhile, executive chairman Ron Fowler, managing partner Peter Seidler and president/CEO Mike Dee issued a joint statement. The club "accept[s] the discipline" and says it "will leave no stone unturned in developing comprehensive processes to remediate this unintentional, but inexcusable, occurrence." The group of top officials state that they do not believe there was any effort "to mislead other clubs."
The release also confirms that Preller will remain in charge of the baseball ops department. The trio of top officials say they will "work closely with him upon his reinstatement to ensure that this unfortunate set of circumstances does not happen again."
5:15pm: Preller isn't at risk of losing his post with the Padres, a "high-ranking club official" tells Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The GM has the "full support" of the team, per the source.
4:21pm: Major league baseball has announced a thirty-day suspension without pay for Padres GM A.J. Preller. The punishment was handed out as a result of a determination that he had failed to disclose required medical information in the trade that sent lefty Drew Pomeranz to the Red Sox in exchange for prospect Anderson Espinoza.
The league was looking into San Diego's medical documentation and disclosure practices after questions arose at this summer's trade deadline. San Diego already agreed to an unusual trade unwinding a portion of its swap with the Marlins, taking back injured righty Colin Rea after Miami learned about undisclosed medical information.
In a stunning report earlier this afternoon, ESPN.com's Buster Olney documented an alleged decision by the Padres' front office to maintain two separate databases of player health information. Treatment for ailments that did not require disabled list stints, it seems, were not logged in the central information repository that is utilized by teams in the course of trades — with training staff reportedly told expressly that the reason was to gain an advantage in trade talks.
Notably, the punishment apparently relates only to the Pomeranz deal. According to Olney's report, at least three other clubs complained to the commissioner's office about San Diego's actions over the summer. It is not clear at this point whether further discipline could be pursued. This isn't the first time that Preller has been reprimanded by the league, as he was also suspended back when he was an assistant GM for the Rangers. That case involved the international signing rules.
It seems fair to wonder at this point whether Preller will continue on at the helm of the Padres. In addition to the fact that he'll seemingly be out of commission entering an important offseason, it's fair to wonder whether the situation would impact Preller's ability to interact with rival executives on future trades. It doesn't help his cause that the club has struggled badly over the last two years, though the upper-level leadership of the organization has seemingly supported its youthful GM's farm system rebuilding project, which seemed to be gaining some positive momentum of late.
As for the Red Sox' interest in the matter, the league called the matter "closed." And prior reports suggested that there was no effort on Boston's behalf to revisit the terms of that deal or otherwise seek recompense.
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baseballjunkie68
Good, liars should pay. Not that this does anything at all.
bkbkbk
He didnt actually break a rule. It was gamesmanship and dishonesty certainly, but there is no obligatin to share.
I don't think I have heard it said better. There is literally nothing against doing this in the rules of the game or the CBA. Every team does it. If a player has treatment for an injury that does not require them to miss a game, then the team has no obligation to reveal that information to anyone including MLB. That Preller got caught doing it says he is stupid and nothing else.
RunDMC
He pulled the wool over Dave Dombrowski and Frank Wren's eyes…I'm not losing sleep over it.
Preller's first move when coming back from vacay is creating a position-in-waiting for disgraced Cardinals executive and hacking specialist, Christopher Correa, and become the Dark Side of MLB. (I'm kidding, of course, but it would be interesting).
TheWestCoastRyan
Yeah, that's my biggest issue with this situation. It's not being applied across the board. If they punish Preller for this they have to equally punish everyone else who does the same thing.
chesteraarthur
Can you provide me with a link of the other current FO people who have done the same thing? I can't seem to find anything on google.
RytheStunner
Not saying you're completely wrong, but if it's not against the rules and they're not required to disclose any medical information, then why did Preller get suspended? You can't punish someone for failing to do something that he's not required to do.
One Fan
No one else did it but Preller
I'm a bit surprised the punishment is so light. As most have said it's essentially meaningless at this time of year.
I think the damning evidence is the two separate records they were keeping. By Busters column it sounds like MLB clearly said they want more documentation this year in the database and the Pads trainers clearly felt what they were told to do wasn't right.
If you have lower standards of what an "injury" is and so you don't log something down, that's one thing. But to purposefully hide stuff that your staff feels is worthy of documentation is what got him in trouble.
Bottom line even if the league doesn't punish him further, he's going to be punished by the other teams. You really think a team is going to consider trading a blue chip prospect to the Pads and have no trust in what is coming back to them?
This system had ONE shot at working before it came all collapsing down, and so I hope Espinoza was worth becoming a black sheep.
josc2
Good. This is ridiculous and should never have happened. Did they actually think they'd get away with this? A truly scummy move by Preller, who has now skirted the rules three times.
You obviously know zero about how the business of baseball works. The Padres are stupid, they are not unique in this regard. It is common practice in every sport. The suspension is meaningless. GM's are not active in negotiations right now and they won't be until after November 1st.
And they did the same thing in the Miami trade. 30 days for 1 guy shouldn't be the end of the punishment. Should just be the beginning.
Actually, I just thought of what the punishment should be. The Padres should be forced to hire Stewart and LaRussa from the DBacks.
natesp4
I think there's some law against cruel and unusual punishment.
If you're referring to the 8th Amendment, that protects you from the government, which MLB is not.
monkeyking42
Thank you for correcting his joke, noble citizen.
If you're referring to MN Statute 150A.06 subdivision 2, that covers licensure of dental hygienists, which MLB is not.
petrie000
why would you punish the entire community of SD that way for the actions of one man?
Padres fans tend to be good people… they don't deserve that
FOmeOLS
Padres management is stupid and dishonest. It's sad that the fans have to suffer, but the sooner Preller is gone, The sooner the Fanbase will be able to heal.
Do you realize that the Padres were under no obligation to disclose any medical information? Its is on the team that is receiving the player to have their doctors look at the player. That the Padres were nice enough to take Rea back is a measure of how much they like Rea, not that they did anything against the rules. People really should READ the rules before trying to assert things that are clearly wrong.
Uhhh MLB forced them to take back Rea. Try using google. It's free.
Umm no. Trying reading what you Google. Shoot, try reading THIS article. The Padres took Rea back because even if he required TJ Surgery he is a better prospect than the one they sent back to the Fish. Now that he will not require surgery, it makes the Fish look like even bigger fools.
Charlie Burns
No, the Padres were forced by MLB to take back Rea whenever Miami learned that he had already complained about pain in his shoulder and that was when they learned that San Diego (under Preller's control) hid this from them. Also, there is no definitive answer about whether or not if Rea will need surgery and either way, he is going to be out for at least another year. Do not spread falsehoods.
This is not true. Teams do not do physicals on players acquired in trades; they are provided the medicals from the trading team.
While I can see how some might think so, what you are saying simply is not the case. Ask the Orioles about doing your own medical exam on players you are trading for. The rules as they are written now say that it's all on the team receiving the player to do the medical examination prior to the approval of the trade. A team may if they choose reveal medical information, but they are not under any legal or MLB obligation to do so. A team is required to report injuries to the MLB database that any team can access and the question that is rightly brought up in discussion of this situation is this, if a player did not miss a game or have time on the DL because of an injury, does it still have to be reported to MLB. The player in question, Drew Pomeranz, did not miss any games or go on the DL, but did receive treatment for ailments. MLB will have to rewrite those rules going forward, because they are a grey area.
dmerz
The Red Sox performed a physical on Pomeranz and found absolutely nothing wrong before agreeing to the deal. Pomeranz is not injured and hasn't missed a start. The Red Sox are not seeking their prospect back.
No they didn't. Teams don't do in season physicals on players acquired in trades.
This. /\ /\ /\
Teams are reliant on each other to supply truthful information and to upload medical treatment to the database for reviewing.
Pads Fans you can argue the team is not obligated to supply medical data, but they are required to upload that data to MLB and then the trading teams are to have access to it. Preller clearly wasn't trying to do this to hide it from MLB. His motivation was to have his players look as healthy as possible in the eyes of acquiring teams, however untrue that might have been.
So what you're actually arguing is that Preller is fine because he didn't lie to the teams. He lied to an inanimate computer, and that computer then lied to the teams? Classic.
The Boston Globe reported that a physical was performed pre-trade
AddisonStreet
Suspended with pay, I'm sure. This guy has been a train wreck as a GM.
Nope. It's without
thekid9
True. True
halos101
I think preller a done a fine job as a gm. He took a shot and got some much needed excitement for the Padres, and when it didn't work, he moved on and has a pretty nice farm system. San Diego has a brighter future now than they did before preller imo
ratty1
Failure To Disclose Medical Information…………It is the recent trend lately
crazysull
They should be forced to give every player they received in those deals back to their teams and let the other teams keep the players that they Acquired. That seems fair to me.
Yeah and Preller, Dee and Fowler should spend a year's term as the personal footstools for Dombrowski, Loria and Hahn while they're at it XD
They should also be required to take back james shields and forced to allow him to pitch a full 7 innings every 5 days.
That's funny!!!
Except for the fact that teams are not required to disclose ANY medical information to the other team.
If that were true he wouldn't have gotten suspended. Don't lie just because you're a fan of the team.
Read the rules. Preller got suspended for not revealing TREATMENT to MLB, NOT for not telling the other team involved in the trade about injuries. The other team is required to do its own medical examination prior to MLB approving a trade.
That is simply not true. Teams do not, and are not required, to perform physicals on acquired players. OK? Please just look this up. One time.
Why are you arguing this point? MLB rules are available for download. I would suggest you do that. Even the article in ESPN that is linked in two comments on this thread say that teams have ZERO obligation to reveal any medical information to other teams in trades. Many reveal SOME info, but they are not required to do so by the rules. What they are required to do is reveal treatment for injuries to a MLB database that is accesible by all teams. In this case that is what Preller was suspended for. It had nothing to do with the trade of Pomeranz. It had to do with not revealing treatment for injuries to MLB. If there was no treatment or if the player missed no game time or was not placed on the DL for that ailment, that is a grey area and MLB will have to address that going forward.
miketraber24
You are 100 % wrong…..sorry. no in season physicals
Salionski
That might actually be a punishment if it was a key time period in the baseball year for a non-playoff team. Preller loses some cash. Padres shrug it off like it's nothing.
Preller's conduct had only one intent, that was to mislead other organizations to the benefit of himself and the Padres organization. Preller's lack of integrity reflects poorly on the Padres and MLB. The punishment appears quite lenient.
Vedder80
How well would you fare if you lost one month worth of pay?
1 month's pay for a MLB GM is nothing like 1 month's pay for most people. C'mon.
bradthebluefish
All depends on one's cashflow. Everyone's got bills to pay.
anyone with a guaranteed contract like preller's can take out a loan if necessary with very low rates.
Depends on how you are spending your money. If you are making $300,000 per year you are probably also spending much more for your house, car and travel than Joe Schmoe making $50,000 per year.
ib6ub9
Baseball needs to come down on this guy for breaking the rules over and over. These 30 days of vacation don't seem to be working.
redsfanman
In my opinion the game's worst GM just got even worse. After a tenure full of disastrous trades – albeit often overrated due to the sheer number of trades – he's now being suspended for deceiving other teams. He can't even run the Padres into the ground and be honest at the same time.
30 days with someone else making the decisions is, in my opinion, a gift to the Padres and their fans.
JFisnasty
I think only one has truly been disastrous, which was the kemp deal, and the guys they traded haven't been great, besides Grandal, who was just average in San Diego. The Myers deal isn't terrible, it's just a slight loss in my opinion
Are you calling Trea Turner "Just a slight loss?"
One of the worst trades in recent memory, as a third party who doesn't care about either of the teams involved. Trea Turner and Joe Ross for Wil Myers, who's now entering arbitration, is pretty embarrassing. Sure the DBacks have made some worse trades, but that's hardly a defense.
Prellar inherited a strong farm system, sold it all for scraps, then sold those scraps for less, and voila, he's a genius for his wheeling-and-dealing. If only they had some deals to show for it that were more than 'a slight loss'.
Injediwetrust
Man Wil Myers is garbage. The Pads got house'd. Let's let this one play out a little bit more. Byrnes gave away Rizzo and Hoyer gave away Kluber. It happens. Trea Turner could be great but so could Wil.
That prospects he traded were actually pretty overrated, minus Turner and Ross. But he didn't get value in those other trades either.
Please translate this to English.
nypadre66
The Rays also received Jake Blauers from the Padres in that deal. He wasn't a great prospect, but was the Padres #1 1b prospect at the time. 2 years later, he's in the Top 100 and was playing AA at about 21 years old. Myers seems to be getting about as many golden sombreros as homers lately.
"the game's worst GM"
Dave Stewart would like to have a word with you outside…
Fair enough. I think Tony LaRussa and other front office personnel share some blame for Dave Stewart's blunders. And I think Dave Stewart's poor reputation pretty fairly reflects his performance. Stewart doesn't stand out because nobody that I come across says they want a GM more like him.
On the contrary, AJ Prellar has been almost as bad, but seems to have a relatively positive reputation. It's that discrepancy that makes him so bad, in my opinion. Perhaps dangerous that a team might follow his example. People don't recognize what a disaster he's been,… he's covered up terrible trades by making lots of them. For some reason if you make more bad deals people are happy, but if you make a few good ones you're bad. It just doesn't make sense. Prellar doesn't get the negative publicity he well deserves.
Also, although the Shelby Miller trade was pretty bad to begin with, I don't think anybody – supporter or critic of the deal – saw Miller's terrible season coming. Stewart shouldn't have made that deal even for Shelby Miller entering a career year, but I think the deal has spun into even more disastrous territory for Miller's performance, which is outside of Stewart's control. Guys like Matt Kemp, you could see their struggles at Petco coming from a mile away. It's not like Prellar acquired guys who suddenly stunned everyone with historically bad seasons.
There was a really good chance that Inciarte offered similar value to Miller and he had more years of control. Then they threw in swansby and Blair.
I personally thought that shelby would be much worse (granted you are absolutely correct I didn't expect him to become an independent league caliber player, but his peripherals all pointed to unsustainable.
so even if you didn't think shelby would end up requiring questions of whether or not he is actually capable of pitching in MLB, the deal was still miserable.
I think that deal, in itself, is worse than anything Preller did. Now granted, I don't think preller is good, but since abandoning his ridiculous go for it idea, he has actually made some decent trades like the Kimbrel one.
Miller could be on pace for another 200 IP sub-4 ERA season and my opinion of that trade would be exactly the same.
It's all good. The Reds GM is running the team into the ground with no excuses.
Them too
Randy Jay Pena
Sucks the Padres can't give Espinoza back to the Red Sox and the Sox can somehow trade a different player to keep Pomeranz.
The Padres interim GM might do Espinoza for betts if you want to keep Pomeranz and get Espinoza back
Ha! Very funny pal.
Padres GM probably didn't know who Betts is
Why? Pomeranz isn't hurt. He hasn't missed any time. Yes, Pomeranz is pitching to exactly his career ERA as a member of the Sox, but then that is not on the Padres or Preller. Fact is, Preller was not suspended for anything he did TO the Red Sox. He was suspended for withholding treatment on Pomeranz to MLB. The rules state that the team receiving the player in trade has the obligation to do their own medical examination prior to MLB approving the trade.
Preller has been a disaster. His trades and signings have been stupid and it seems he has no sense of morality or ethics.
He should run for president!
ckdexterhaven
So, really, how does this affect him and the padres? He's back by he winter meetings. Back by the end of the World Series, right? So, he misses no actual transaction time? Granted, he'll find it nigh impossible to find trade partners now, due to validated mistrust, and that might be the rationale for the pads to can him…. But how long is he contracted? Would the team have grounds to void his employment contract? It would suck if the team fired him but had to continue to pay him…..
The 30 days without pay – at that income level – seems like a slap on the wrist….
There is also the bigger picture issue here. Did this decision to keep separate records and only disclose the ones they did start and stop with Preller? Or does it go higher up?
southi
Total joke of a punishment (possibly the LEAST important 30 day time period for a GM). It has gotten that few people hold any integrity at all any more and will do whatever they think is right in their own eyes to get the advantage (this type of thinking invades so much of society, but thankfully there are a few rare exceptions) Where will it stop?
Signed through 2019
Preller will certainly miss the income, just like you would miss it. The amount of money he makes does not mean losing a month of income will not hurt. Since every GM does what Preller did, it probably won't make it any harder to make trades. If anything it will make it easier since other GMs know MLB is watching Preller.
source saying every gm does what preller did?
sdpads
First off I am a Padres fan, I don't think preller broke the rules because there are no rules when it comes to exchanging medical information during trades. espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17228207/san-diego-padres-…
This article states that mlb has talked about establishing more streamline protocol for exchanging medical information during trades but as of now it seems like it's up to the teams involved to present this information. Also if your a team giving up high prospects for a guy with significantly less medical history than the norm wouldn't that raise questions before not after the trade has been completed? Yeah what peller was doing was messed up but it takes two teams to agree to a trade.
ray_derek
He didn't break any rules that's why they suspended him, just for the hell of it.
"because there are no rules when it comes to exchanging medical information during trades."
From the link you provided – Teams are generally expected to reveal all necessary medical records as deals are executed to provide as complete a picture as possible for a team acquiring a player. Medical review of all players involved in any proposed deal is a standard part of the process.
Common business practices may not be a codified rules, but it is often enough to set a precedent for situations where specific language is not codified.
Generally expected and rules are not the same thing.
No, but I'd imagine that somewhere in the terms agreed to by MLB teams is an agreement to abide by common procedures and best and fair business practices.
I'm sure there are but if a team didn't think what the Padres were doing was fair why make the trade in the first place? If most players have 60 medical entries and Padres players only have 10 doesn't that raise enough questions? Seems like this is just buyers remorse.
Because most teams don't pull this. Which is why the padres are being punished. it's also how something becomes best/accepted practices for an industry.
Don't try to use logic or the facts. They don't want to hear that. They want to hear, "he is a liar and a cheat and should be hung by his short and curlies".
That it makes them look like utter fools is not germane. They just want their hate, the facts be damned.
Every team pulls this. Preller was just stupid enough to get caught for not revealing all the treatment Pomeranz got to MLB. THAT IS WHAT PRELLER IS BEING SUSPENDED FOR.
The simple fact is MLB does not require teams to reveal all medical information during trades and most don't reveal all the info they have. Preller was not suspended for anything he did or did not do in the Pomeranz trade.
Teams are not required to reveal ANY information on a player. None. Most do as an act of goodwill during a trade, but all the responsibility for medical review is on the team receiving the player. You would think that any smart business person would at least have their doctor look at a player in what is often a multi-million dollar transaction. If you don't, it's on you.
The Padres are dumb to show support for Preller. What team in their right minds would make a deal with SD if Preller is still part of the organization? If I was a padre fan I'd be outraged
Considering my Braves have been using them as a west coast minor-league affiliate, I hope the guys we received from them, mainly Max Fried, have no long-term injury concerns.
del4rel
you mean the guy who was recovering from tommy john surgery when he was acquired lol
I mean the guy that was top-rated arm in the draft and dropped because of the injury. ATL obviously knew about it.
what does his rating in the draft and subsequent falling due to a public surgery have to do with the padres disclosing injuries?
I'm also curious how you figure he was the top rated arm in a draft (even pre injury) that included Appel and Gausman
disgruntledreader
Wrong Harvard-Westlake pitcher, sparky. Giolito was the pitcher who was injured at the time of the draft.
Fried was healthy out of the draft and through his first full year in the Padres system. He showed little aptitude for pitching, was a headcase and was the son of an overbearing, wannabe-pitching coach father.
You're right, I misspoke about Fried, but I thought I remembered reading that despite Giolito rising quickly, there were quite a few that rated Fried just as high. Whatever it is, I'm glad he's in our system.
At various times Run, there were different experts (from what I had read too) that had rated Fried higher than Giolito. Of course when you are talking about real young arms sometimes you get different scouting reports based on when during the season you may see them (in other words a 4 game stretch of games started towards the end of the season may look vastly different than a 4 game stretch of games at the beginning of the year).
Fried got off to a relatively slow start but pitched much better towards the end of the season.UNTIL the last four games of the season when he allowed too many runs but struck out a ton( 28 k's in 18.2 innings) Of course considering he missed half of 2014 and all of 2015 the kid could had just been tired.
Please provide link to Fried over Gio scouting.
sorry that sounds kinda d-ish. I'm genuinely curious where scouts thought that. Gio has/had a future 80 fb/cb combo since he was like 14
correction 20.2 innings*
this one implies that the Astros were thinking about Fried over Giolito
fangraphs.com/blogs/scouting-earths-best-young-arm…
There are several links that I found chesteraarthur just from a quick google search, but tbh I don't remember remember actually reading the scouting reports only quotes within articles mentioning or implying thinking of Fried over Giolito. It was some time ago that I read the ones that I was thinking of, and obviously there is still the chance that the original comments were referring to AFTER 'Giolito was injured (I have no idea) and honestly I'm not going to search that hard for them right now.
I'm just trying to show you that the info is out there, but this old mind can't recall exactly which ones I read nor do I admittedly have any clue of what time line the original articles I read them in were referring too. Sorry that is the best I have time to do right now.
What you linked is from post-injury and those impressions.
LG was a possible 1-1 (looking forward) the year before he got hurt and did well until that injury. I just don't see any way that Fried, also a HS arm, was ever considered better, pre injury.
I'd be curious if he's even ever considered a better arm POST the gio injury.
LG was supposed to be one of the better prep pitchers in the recent decade
LG was predicted to go 1-1 before his injury. Fried was the #2 ranked prep pitcher before LG's injury and became #1 after.
He may have been ranked a better arm draft wise because of injury, but what i mean, and should have been more clear about, was actual arm potential.
LG has had a ridiculous potential for a really long time because he had a future 80 fastball/curve combo with an at least 60 curve.
I'm no scout, but from what I've seen post injury LG's fast is just not an 80 anymore. He has lost a ton of control (which comes back) but he's also lost the movement he had which is what made his mid-upper 90s that much better.
I hope the best for him because great pitchers are awesome to see, but I think that he is much over rated at this point. Hopeully he can get that feel back on his fastball.
Oh to my original point, Fried has no potential to ever be a great pitcher. He's more of a peak 3 type, so that's why i don't get how he'd be a better arm thatn LG. More reliable, maybe, but not better..
If you take a look at BA articles shortly after Giolito's injuries you will see that Fried was ranked as the number 1 prep arm. then. Hope that helps.
Just 20-years old at the time of the trade, Fried was one of the most exciting left-handed prospects in baseball, hovering around the Top 50 slot just two years after being drafted seventh overall by the San Diego Padres. – That is from Minor League Ball in June of this year.
There is no Hollywood story for the kid from North Hollywood. He isn't coming out of nowhere and he's not some rags-to-riches story. What Max Fried is, is just good. He was a first round pick in 2012, and was one of the top prospects in baseball before his injury. All of that was for good reason. Now, it hasn't all been smooth sailing for the talented, lanky left hander. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2014, and faced an 18 month road to recovery. In that time he was traded away to a team on the opposite coast from where he was born, and faced a new team in a small town environment in northwest Georgia. All he did was pick right up where he left off, flashing devastating stuff that has the potential to again make him one of the best prospects in baseball. – That is from Talking Chop.
Obviously, lots of people believed he had the potential to be a great pitcher if he went 7th overall in the draft and was a consensus Top 40-60 prospect when he was traded to the Braves.
Nobody serious has, at any time, thought Fried was a better pitcher. Some teams were scared because Giolito was going under the knife, but there was never any confusion over who was the better pitcher.
Let's see who makes the playoffs first of the two
BSPORT
It hasn't gained him any advantages, the Padres always suck. Usually it's the Sox that are walking the line of truth. Was surprised the problem was on Padres end.
What does the padres always sucking having to do with Preller? He hasn't been there since the founding of the team.
Despite his ill-advised "go for it" strategy to start his tenure, he has actually made some decent trades since then.
Maybe, but his maneuvering in the 2014-15 offseason and at the 2015 trade deadline were both complete and total disasters.
bencole
Let me get this straight… MLB has suspended him for what might be the most unimportant, meaningless 30 days of the season. If it's willful, dishonest, and clearly against the rules, I'd have given him 5 years
You would suspend Preller for 5 years for not revealing treatment a player received to MLB? A player that was not injured enough to miss games, is not injured now, and did not have any time on the DL? Wow. What would you do for a player using PED? A lifetime for a 1st offense? Off with their heads?
RyanR
Who would trade with him now?
Exactly. The real punishment likely will come when it's time to make a deal and few, if any, GMs trust him enough to complete a trade.
I think Braves still would. SD and ATL have done a good job of taking dead contracts from each other and spinning them into gold for the most part (Maybin for ATL; Melvin Upton for SD). This ATL regime does their homework (Olivera notwithstanding), so I could imagine if the right deal pops up they'd still deal with them.
Cool, so two last place teams can trade with each other. That will help both of them…
Do last place teams not have any valuable resources?
to trade to each other? No, not particularly.
Considering they've had at least 3 transactions in the last 21 months – the well should be dried up by now.
bravobravo
It could help both of them. One team could be stocked at a postion and have a need for another position that the other last place team has stocked in their minors, therefore they make a trade for a player to fill their needs. So yes, it could help both of them. If a team has a surplus of something and have needs, I don't think they care what place the other team is in that they are trading with as long as they have what they need
GoRav114
I agree completely. Rebuilding his relationships with other GM's will be the biggest challenge for AJ when he gets back.
vtadave
Looking at their MLB roster, I don't think Preller would be fielding too many inquiries anyway.
He can trade Anderson Espinosa, Manny Margot, and Hunter Renfroe for veteran pieces for his 2017 playoff run.
It's hard to read sarcasm on the internet, but I really hope that was sarcasm.
It would be nice to see more front office guys get sanctioned for some of the shady stuff they've been up to the last few years. It's just hard to definitively prove this stuff.
wow the whole front office was in on it or there all stupid
stupid is as stupid does – they're just fine with reaping the benefits and letting Preller take his month-long vacay
Here's a thought, if you feel there is a conscious effort to deceive; walk away. Or in the very least do your due diligence to make a decision on whether to proceed. If the questions were asked and the Padres gave false information; yeah I would have an issue with the front office. The trades all still went through. Apparently these teams weren't deterred from their perceived lack of integrity.
Clearly I'm a Padres fan that supports AJ. Being dishonest is far different than not providing everything you know.
In general, teams don't lie, so this isn't needed. That's why the padres are being penalized.
That's not true and several former GMs and players have been on ESPN and MLB Network today saying the exact opposite of what you have tried to assert. Those guys who worked in the same position as Preller or who have been players have said this type of thing is very common for teams to do and Preller just got caught not revealing the treatment Pomeranz got to MLB.
Everybody gives the Orioles a hard time for their stringent physical examination but obviously they are doing something right as they are aware that other teams are under no obligation to reveal medical information that does not cost the player playing time. They are not required to include blisters, illnesses, mental type issues, etc.. So the Orioles have just been doing their due diligence and so far have been about 100% correct. This is an interesting story but I don't understand why he is being suspended. Buyer beware!
cleonjones
No more punishment as the owner of the Padres has told the commissioner that he's done at the conclusion of the season.
Just the opposite. So far 3 of the ownership group and the President of the team have come out in public support of Preller. He will be back.
xpacificxsharkxdangerx
I honestly find it funny boston fans are crying over preller- while dishonest- abiding completely within the rules while the red soxs just had to release 5 or so players from last seasons IFA period for signing players using dishonest money disbursement schemes and the marlins were one of 9 teams to violate rules of MLB debt service LOL.
mlbtraderumors.com/2011/06/nine-teams-in-violation…
Wait, why? The Red Sox violated (also unwritten, I believe) rules and got punished, so they shouldn't be upset that if the Padres violated rules they should be punished?
The rules the Red Sox tried to circumvent are definitely written. There are very specific protocols in place when it comes to International Free Agent signings and the Red Sox broke those rules.
Preller also was suspended for a written rule, one that requires teams to reveal to MLB all injuries to players. The question here is whether if an injury does not require any games missed or time on the DL does it have to be revealed to MLB. Preller was not suspended for anything having to do with the trade of Pomeranz.
Looks to me that the "two sets of books" is what got under people's skin. There's an mandated disclosure database, and the implication seems to be that things that should have gone into the database–which is fairly extensive, and open to other teams who are in the midst of trading for a player, were whitewashed. Putting aside the issue of morality, if they violated the rules they ought to be punished. This looks like a wrist was slapped. Not terribly hard
Considering the fact that the player in question was not injured and didn't miss any time, it seems a fitting punishment. Preller loses a month of pay which will hit his wallet hard. Think about what losing one month of pay would do to your budget.
If I were in his pay bracket, it wouldn't do a damn thing to my budget.
vonjunk
Preller received a weak punishment, but imagine the next time he calls around to make a trade. I would imagine his tarnished image around the league is the best punishment possible. No more Red Sox trades for you.
It's a great chance for the Pads to cut ways with Preller. He's not the kind of role model any organization should have.
I find that hilarious. The Red Sox were trying to trade for Brandon Maurer in August, long after the trade for Pomeranz. If they or any team can get the player they want for what they consider a good deal they will make the trade.
I like how people are like- hey this will effect prellers ability to trade around the league….
Heres how quickly that will last.
Team A. Hey we like that free agent low cost move you made lets trade
Preller- ok lets do this
Team A. Sorry we cant deal i dont trust you
Preller- ok we will trade them to your division rival for this package we have lined up.
Yeah when teams want the same piece like a jay if they qo him or a solarte to bolster their roster next year this wont stop trades from happening.
SixFlagsMagicPadres
Like others have already stated, the suspension Preller received might seem light, but the real fallout from this mess is going to be when he tries to make trades with teams in the future. Lots of executives are going to be thinking twice before making deals with the Padres after seeing a front office that reeks of shadiness.
I still don't believe the Marlins had no idea Chris Paddack was an injury risk. You don't go from 100% healthy to needing Tommy John surgery in two starts. We'll take our chances on him making it back from the surgery anyway.
Astros2333
Still waiting to hear on a punishment for the Cardinals hacking in to the Astros database.
Lol the Cards organization is hoping everybody forgets all about that. Truth is that they deserve the harshest punishment ever handed down for the hack because they did it repeatedly and I believe more were involved in the process.
Lol "idjits"
MisterB_71
Preller has quite a pair when he makes the statement, "there was no malicious intent … to conceal information or disregard MLB's recommended guidelines." What else could you be possibly thinking if not to cheat the system when you set up an alternate set of medical records for a player that were not to be shared with MLB? Preller might have thought it was within the rules but he knew he was working against the spirit of the guidelines and expectations of MLB.
DannyQ3913
Preller is a nut job
He looks like a 1940's newspaper reporter.
I've always thought he looked more like Willy Wonka without the purple suit and hat.
That is awesome. Nice flip-flops and basketball shorts. Class act!
One might ask what was so compelling about the Red Sox claim that it was the only one that MLB decided to move forward on.
MafiaBass
The suspension should start five days after the World Series ends.