Baseball\u2019s 162-game season is so unrelenting, it can slam some big leaguers into a fatigue wall.<\/p>\n
I saw it up close as a Padres beat writer. The mental grind can cook some ballplayers. Other players\u2019 bodies break down. It\u2019s very much a Darwinian world.<\/p>\n
Habits, too, can make or break players.<\/p>\n
Rickey Henderson, during his Padres days, said one lifestyle commitment enabled his baseball longevity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSleep,\u201d said baseball\u2019s best leadoff man, who reported a disciplined commitment to plenty of zzzzs.<\/p>\n
Ample sleep isn\u2019t a frequent option, though, within the annual summer attrition-and-aptitude test for the folks in many baseball front offices.<\/p>\n
Major League Baseball\u2019s summer trade market requires these team-builders to up their games.\u00a0The Aug. 1 trade deadline hounds these baseball seamheads to\u00a0sustain concentration over intense stretches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everybody in baseball gets less sleep during those times,\u201d Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller said. \u201cThe funny part is, you know which groups with the other teams are the late-night groups and which groups are the early risers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a round-the-clock situation for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For sure, it\u2019s a grind.<\/p>\n
But baseball work, Preller interjected, is fun work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that time of year where you\u2019ve definitely got to be on \u2014 and all of baseball\u2019s like that,\u201d said Preller, the Padres\u2019 general manager since August 2014. \u201cThe beauty of that is, it\u2019s baseball. It\u2019s fun to be talking about baseball. At that time, all of baseball\u2019s kind of wired \u2014 fans and baseball people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preller\u2019s high trade rate and knack for blockbuster deals have made him the most prominent face of MLB\u2019s summer trade market.<\/p>\n
Baseball\u2019s media partners love that he\u2019s not a scaredy-cat GM.<\/p>\n
Preller said it\u2019s a team effort. He gave high marks to his crew of evaluators and research and development analysts, among many other Padres contributors.<\/p>\n
But his own abilities matter, too.<\/p>\n
Preller, 48, can still work extra-long stretches on low sleep without losing his fastball, said former Padres control owner Ron Fowler, one of the folks who hired the former Texas Rangers scouting executive into his current job 11 years ago.<\/p>\n
A closing kick worthy of Usain Bolt was required of Preller and staffers this summer.<\/p>\n
Nearing the finish line, they made five trades involving 22 players.<\/a><\/p>\n Preller called it a very busy stretch, even by his team\u2019s track record for high-volume trading.<\/p>\n When it ended, Preller, speaking with reporters, seemed more excited than fatigued.<\/p>\n If he has a health hack, it\u2019s pickup basketball.<\/p>\n Typically, he arises in the morning dark to play \u2014 \u201cmissing shots and making turnovers,\u201d he quipped \u2014 so he can get a jump on his day. It\u2019s bliss for him.<\/p>\n \u201cMost days, we\u2019re running at 6 a.m.,\u201d said Preller, who\u2019s rated a pretty good point guard by opponents<\/p>\n Hoops at dawn, he admitted, didn\u2019t come naturally to him. \u201cYou\u2019re thinking, \u2018This is not human, you shouldn\u2019t be running at that time,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In time, he adapted.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u00a0get used to anything, I feel like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Leading up to the trade deadline, Preller and team worked out of an auditorium at Petco Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n Coffee was available 24\/7, said Preller, who drank beverages without caffeine. While perhaps no one on Preller\u2019s team topped the strong-coffee intake per day of Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell \u2014 two 20-ounce cups with two shots of espresso in each \u2014 a Padres scout did reprise consumption habits that are the stuff of Padres lore.<\/p>\n He is Keith Boeck.<\/p>\n Behold his trade-market fuel: energy drinks and licorice, in copious\u00a0amounts.<\/p>\n \u201cRed Bulls and Twizzlers are basically his diet,\u201d said Preller, his voice tinged with an awe reserved for exciting hitters and pitchers. \u201cHe sits in that room. This is kind of his Super Bowl. We sit in amazement and look at his diet at that time of year \u2014 and make sure we do the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n Unwittingly, Preller provided an explainer to Boeck\u2019s dietary madness.<\/p>\n \u201cHis dad was a sportswriter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Boeck\u2019s specialty is scouting players on other MLB teams for potential acquisition. Boeck championed Jake Cronenworth before Preller got the second baseman from the Tampa Bay Rays six years ago.<\/p>\n Clearly, professional scouting played a large role in Preller\u2019s recent moves that imported seven players to the current big-league club.<\/p>\n Preller traded for two Oaklands A\u2019s pitchers in closer Mason Miller and J.P. Sears<\/a>, two regulars from the Baltimore Orioles in outfielder Ramon Laureano and first baseman\/DH Ryan O\u2019Hearn<\/a>, Kansas City Royals catcher Freddy Fermin<\/a>, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Nelson Cortes and Toronto Blue Jays infielder Will Wagner<\/a>, who has appeared in 40 big-league games this year and was sent to the Padres\u2019 Triple-A club in El Paso.<\/p>\n Negotiating financial terms, too, Preller added only $1.5 million to the big-league payroll.<\/p>\n Though the longer-term impact on the Padres is much tougher to forecast, the trades seem to have markedly improved the club\u2019s ability to challenge for a first World Series title. Fermin and Laureano already have become lineup regulars. Miller\u2019s 101-mph average fastball has strengthened what already was MLB\u2019s best bullpen.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully,\u201d said Preller, \u201cwe can bring some joy to San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n If nothing else, we\u2019ll see if Red Bull and Twizzlers are the stuff of champions.<\/p>\n Originally Published: August 11, 2025 at 5:43 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baseball\u2019s 162-game season is so unrelenting, it can slam some big leaguers into a fatigue wall. 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