Padres GM sets ambitious goals for Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, Luis Arraez, and other key stars in 2025

The San Diego Padres showed a lot of promise in 2024, improving from an 82-win season in 2023 to making it their first season 90-win season since 2010. They finished their postseason losing to the LA Dodgers in the NLDS in five games. They would be hoping for another deeper run in 2025 with most of their stars returning.

Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., their mainstays in the lineup, have put up decent numbers, hitting 50 home runs and 154 RBIs combined. They had backup from rookie Jackson Merill, who came second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting after he batted .292 and 90 RBIs. Luis Arraez went on to win his second consecutive batting title with a .318 average.

The four batters along with a healthy pitching staff is what general manager A.J. Preller is looking for. The GM spoke to reporters on Thursday, identifying the keys to success.

"We've got multiple players who could be in MVP consideration—Tatis, Machado, Xander, and Jackson leading the way," Preller said. "Then you have guys like Arraez, hopefully winning another batting title. Our starting pitching group has a chance to have multiple guys in Cy Young consideration, and we’ve built a strong bullpen.

"Health is always a big factor—we’ve seen that play a role over the last four or five years. But if we can continue what we started last year, especially with [Schildt] and the coaching staff being so detail-oriented, focusing on the little things that lead to winning baseball games, we’ll be in a great spot.

"Those are the things that might not always be noticed, but we’ve gotten really good at them, and we’ve had success with them at different points over the last five years." [12:14 onwards]

Mike Shildt heaps praise on A.J. Preller

Padres manager Mike Shildt made his feelings known about A.J. Preller's front office. Ahead of Spring Training, he told reporters:

“A.J. (Preller) does what A.J. does. He supplements the club in areas where we need it and he’s always looking for solutions, which is what winners do.”

The Padres are facing an ownership dispute between two factions of the Seidler family. This has impeded their progress in signing top stars like Roki Sasaki. A late boost, however, saw them sign Nick Pivetta and Kyle Hart and the team would be hoping for renewed urgency as they look to battle for the NL West.