Tom Krasovic: Padres' willingness to sign -- and trade -- younger prospects keeps pipeline churning

SAN DIEGO — If A.J. Preller wishes to trade for more starting pitching this season, he can do it without dealing his best prospects, an MLB scout told me Monday.

Preller can deal minor leaguers for help in the back of the rotation without a sharp pinch, the scout said.

It appears no matter how many prospects Preller trades, he almost always has others to deal for additional big leaguers.

Even an MLB scout who's not impressed by the on-field results under Preller or his trade for Juan Soto deemed the club "great at amateur talent acquisition" following Friday's prospect-driven trade for Luis Arraez, a career .339 hitter against right-handed pitching.

The move for the two-time batting champion Arraez, 27, came less than two months after Preller dealt a few prospects for Chicago White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease, a 28-year-old with good career marks in strikeouts and fielding-independent ERA.

If there's an underlying theme here, it's that Preller and his scouts invest high draft picks and substantial international bonuses in teenagers, develop them — and then have no problem trading them. Many other clubs prefer bigger plays for college prospects due to their weightier track records.

It was just last summer Preller invested a first-round pick (and bonus money) in Illinois high school outfielder Dillon Head, the 19-year-old sent Friday to Miami along with three older prospects.

Owen Caissie led the prospects sent to the Chicago Cubs for Yu Darvish in December 2020. A second-round round pick out of his Canadian high school, Caissie could join the Cubs this season, nearly four years after the trade, as a 21-year-old outfielder.

Preller's move for the much-coveted Soto was possible due to investments in first-round high school selections CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore and Robert Hassell III and second-round pick James Wood, now a 21-year-old outfielder batting .325 in Triple-A.

Padres scouts have been hitting at a good rate in big plays for younger amateurs, noted ESPN's Kiley McDaniel, a former analyst with several MLB teams.

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