MLB Rumors: Padres GM A.J. Preller's Future Uncertain; SD to Cut Payroll for 2024

Now that they are one game away from being officially eliminated from playoff contention, it sounds like significant changes are coming for the San Diego Padres this offseason.

Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, A.J. Preller's future as general manager is very much uncertain and payroll is expected to be cut down to around to $200 million, though it's unclear which players might be put on the trade block.

"Given that no decisions have been made regarding who will be running or helping to run the Padres' baseball operations department beyond this season," Acee wrote, "it follows that no decisions have been made regarding certain aspects of the roster beyond this season."

It's not a surprise that Preller's status with the organization is likely to be reevaluated at the end of the season.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin reported last week about a divide within the organization between Preller and the coaching staff, particularly manager Bob Melvin.

"If nobody's on the same page and you're getting two stories from two different people, there is not trust there," one Padres player said of the situation. "The players are going to feel like, well, who can I confide in? Who can I talk to?"

In a Sept. 15 report from Acee, some people within the Padres clubhouse believe "the culture within the team is one that lacks cohesion and a central purpose" and a perceived "leadership void" within the locker room:

"However, the contention by several people in the organization is that there is one powerful force that may not be the problem but certainly has not been the solution a player of his stature could be.

"According to virtually everyone queried in a series of more than 30 conversations with more than a dozen uniformed personnel, including eight players, and other members of the organization, there is unanimous consensus that (Manny) Machado controls the clubhouse and sets a tone and personality for the team."

Several Padres players, including Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Joe Musgrove, pushed back on the reports that there is dysfunction within the organization.

Preller has been San Diego's general manager since August 2014 after spending 10 years in the Texas Rangers front office. He's made several aggressive trades and free-agent signings throughout his tenure, including signing Machado and Eric Hosmer, Xander Bogaerts and trading for Yu Darvish and Juan Soto.

If the Padres do go into cost-cutting mode this offseason, it won't be hard to get the payroll down to around $200 million. Juan Soto, who will be going into his final year of arbitration in 2024 after earning $23 million this season, would be an attractive trade chip.

Blake Snell and Josh Hader, who are making a combined $30.5 million, are set to become free agents.

The Padres $253.3 million payroll this season ranks third in MLB, behind the New York Mets ($343.6 million) and New York Yankees ($279 million).

While that spending did get the Padres a lot of coverage coming into the 2023 campaign, they've often struggled to turn it into results on the field. They are on pace to have their seventh losing season in Preller's nine full years running the front office.

San Diego made the playoffs last year and advanced to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 1998 before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.