The Los Angeles Dodgers made a major free agency splash by signing closer Edwin Diaz to a three-year contract. This move highlights the team’s commitment to maintaining its dominance, even after winning back-to-back World Series titles.
San Diego Padres general manager AJ Preller knows he’ll need to get active in the trade and free-agent markets to keep pace in the highly competitive NL West race. It’s no surprise to Preller that the Dodgers continue to spend aggressively.
“It’s expected,” Preller told 3 The Fan. “It feels like there’s always talent coming into the NL West. It speaks to the competitiveness around the National League. The Dodgers, specifically, the last two years have represented the National League and won the World Series. There are teams that are hungry to win and put the resources towards that. We understand that.”
Preller emphasized that the Padres remain focused on improving their roster. “Our focus continues to be on what we need to do to get better,” he said. “The last two years we’ve been close, but it hasn’t been good enough. As a group, we’ve talked about how we can take another step knowing that other teams are going to add. We’re going to continually look to get better and find ways to take another step or two, which we need to get to to bring a World Series to San Diego.”
The Padres have reached the playoffs in each of the last two seasons but have yet to advance past the National League Division Series. In 2022, San Diego did reach the National League Championship Series but were defeated 4-1 by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Despite these setbacks, the Padres are committed to building a team ready to compete now. Preller is considering all options as he looks to push San Diego forward. He is well aware that the Dodgers aren’t messing around as they pursue a historic threepeat.
https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/san-diego-padres/padres-news-what-aj-preller-said-dodgers-edwin-diaz-signing