How would Padres fan base feel about flipping recently acquired players?

It's an interesting question as to whether the Padres would burn fans with a fire sale.  The most fun that Padres fans had in years was during the offseason when GM A.J. Preller was dealing away all of our talent for big name players that would later turn out to slump hard in the first half of the season.  We ate that sh_t up. We couldn't get enough of it. We'd do it again in a second. Right?

This season is done.  Most casual fans checked out long ago.  Those still watching games are cynical and depressed.  They're not doing us any favors by keeping this team together for the rest of the season for our sake.  If flipping players is necessary then get on with it.

One of the angles that Preller and company can use when dealing our players in July is that he's got a perfect record of players instantly turning into stars with their new teams.  Teams will pay extra for that type of certainty.

We've all pretty much come to grips at this point of losing Justin Upton in the near future, but few suspected that James Shields who has a 3 year $75 contract would be dealt too.  Well according to Peter Gammons he's being shopped around.

And, yes, the Pads have asked other teams about possible interest in Shields

A.J. Preller is probably just testing the market, but if he's serious about moving him and gets a good return I'd hate for our fan expectations to squash the deal.  I'm not attached to anybody on a team that's 41-49.  I don't plan on getting attached to any of them either.

Olney: Who should the Padres look to move this month? - Buster Olney Blog - ESPN

Trading Shields now is logical in a lot of ways, but how do you sell the idea that this is smart baseball to a fan base scarred by past sell-offs? How do you get fans to buy into the idea that a team that developed a win-now strategy that turned out so badly can now execute a deft pivot? If the Padres ship Shields, Upton and Kimbrel out of town, how can they convince anyone this is anything other than just another round of rash decision-making?

It's true that I've lost a lot of confidence in Preller and the rest of the Padres with how poorly this first season gamble turned out, but I'm forced to trust them to turn this team around and the sooner they get started the better.