Padres make four moves at deadline, acquire pitchers, catcher, more — and keep Cease

The Major League Baseball trade deadline was 3 p.m. Thursday, and the Padres made four trades, acquiring pitchers and a catcher.

According to Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac, the Padres traded a total of 13 prospects Thursday — including five of their top 10 prospects.

The Friars did not trade right-handed starter Dylan Cease, who was rumored to be one of the top pitchers on the market leading up to the deadline, per MLB beat writer A.J. Cassavell.

Padres send a slew of prospects to A’s for two major league pitchers

In General Manager A.J. Preller’s first trade Thursday, the Padres received A’s star reliever Mason Miller and starter JP Sears for the third-ranked prospect in baseball, 18-year-old shortstop Leo De Vries, and three other prospects.

The Padres signed their current shortstop, Xander Bogaerts, to an 11-year, $280 million contract in 2022, and according to the MLB’s top 30 prospects list, De Vries is on track to debut in 2027.

In exchange for De Vries, the Padres acquired 26-year-old righty Miller, who had 59 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings and a 3.76 ERA as the A’s closer this season.

It is unclear if Miller will replace Robert Suarez, the team’s current closer who was selected as an All-Star the past two years.

Suarez has a 3.43 ERA and has struck out 47 batters in 44 2/3 innings this year, and leads the league with 30 saves.

Preller, in a news conference after the deadline passed, did not give a definitive answer when asked if Suarez or Miller would be the Padres closer for the rest of the season.

“That’ll be a conversation with [manager Mike Shildt] and [pitching coach Ruben Niebla] and then the players,” he said.

The Padres also will welcome 29-year-old southpaw JP Sears, who has a 4.95 ERA and 7-9 record in 22 starts this year.

On average, Sears has pitched just over 5 innings per start this year.

In the trade, the A’s also received three right-handed pitching prospects from the Padres, who were the third, 13th and 17th ranked prospects in the organization, per MLB.

Padres acquire Kansas City catcher for two starters

ESPN columnist Jeff Passan broke the news on X just before noon that the Padres had acquired Kansas City Royals Catcher Freddy Fermín for right handed pitchers Ryan Bergert and Steven Kolek.

According to A.J. Cassavell, the trade “addressed perhaps their biggest weakness.”

Martin Maldonado and Elias Diaz, the Padres catchers this season, have batting averages of .204 and .205, respectively.

Fermín is batting .255 in 67 games this year, and the 30-year-old has a .268 average in 818 career plate attempts.

The Royals received Bergert, 25, and Kolek, 28, in return for Fermín.

Bergert made his major league debut as a Padre in April as a reliever, and gave up only one hit in his first four appearances. Since the start of May, Bergert has started seven games.

He has a 2.78 ERA in 35 2/3 innings pitched this season and a 1-0 record.

Kolek made his major league debut with the Padres last year and has a 4-5 record and an ERA of 4.18 in 14 starts this season.

On May 10, Kolek pitched a complete-game shutout versus the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, giving up five hits in the Padres 21-0 rout.

A third trade with the Orioles for outfielders

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passat at 1:28 p.m. Thursday, the Padres and Baltimore Orioles were finalizing a deal to send Orioles’ outfielder Ramon Laureano, 31, and first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, 32, to San Diego.

According to Yahoo Sports at 2:27 p.m. — 33 minutes before the deadline — the Padres acquired Laureano and O’Hearn, who started the 2025 All-Star Game.

In exchange, the Padres sent six prospects to Baltimore — including the organization’s sixth, eighth and 16th-ranked prospects heading into the day, per Minor League Baseball’s prospect rankings.

Although O’Hearn is primarily a first baseman, he could join Laureano in the outfield at Petco Park, and has played 18 games in right field for the Orioles this season.

O’Hearn is batting .283 with 13 home runs and an on-base percentage of .374 this year; Laureano is batting .290 with 15 HRs and a .355 OBP.

San Diego first baseman Luiz Arraez’s one year, $14 million contract is set to expire at the end of the season — as is O’Hearn’s two year, $11.5 million deal.

A fourth trade with the Brewers

The Padres announced via X at 3:55 p.m. that they had sent outfielder Brandon Lockridge to the Milwaukee Brewers for lefty pitcher Nestor Cortez, 30, and 18-year-old shortstop Jorge Quintana.

Cortez has a lifetime ERA of 3.88 in 576 innings pitched, and he started 30 games for the New York Yankees in 2024.

Cortez’s last start was April 3.

According to the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, Cortez has been rehabing an elbow injury since April.

Cortez went five and two-thirds innings and gave up two runs in a July 24 appearance with the Brewers’ top minor league team, the Triple-A Nashville Sounds.

During his press conference Thursday afternoon, broadcast on 97.3 FM The Fan, Preller said he thinks Cortez is “ready to go.”

“We acquired him with the idea that he’s going to come to the big leagues and pitch and start for us,” the exec said.

Preller on keeping Dylan Cease

During Thursday’s press conference, Preller said he told Dylan Cease Wednesday that at the trade deadline, “you’re always going to pick up your phone, and when people are calling, that’s a good sign that you’re somebody that people have interest in.”

Preller added that the Padres’ best team starts with starting pitching, including Yu Darvish — hopefully Michael King — Nick Pivetta and Cease.

“For Dylan, when we made the trade last spring training, it was designed towards multiple postseason runs,” Preller said. “Our best team has Dylan Cease on it, and I think he understands that.”