A thank you note to A.J. Preller and Peter Seidler

To A.J. Preller and Peter Seidler,

I think I’m speaking for all Padres fans when I say thank you for everything you did this season. Reaching the NLCS wouldn’t have been possible without you two.

Peter, you allowed A.J. and his staff to make moves in the offseason and before the trade deadline that increased payroll and in some cases made you eat significant money. You made it a priority to make sure Joe Musgrove was going to be a Padre for the remainder of his prime. Fans appreciate how much you want this organization to win a championship.

A.J., you are a legend. From what I’ve heard, you fell asleep while talking with a scout at 2:30 in the morning the day of the trade deadline because you didn’t want to waste any time before the clock ran out.

You spent years scouting and developing your top young players, such as James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, C.J. Abrams and Robert Hassell lll, but was willing to part with them to bring in Juan Soto in hopes of giving the Padres at least three chances of winning the city’s first major championship. Like Mike Rizzo said, you’re not afraid to make moves and the whole fan base should respect that.

It was a long road to getting to your first full season playoff berth but the wait was worth it because this roster you built has a core of players, led by Musgrove and Manny Machado, that will be here for a long time.

Hopefully we’ll see a longer season next year,

Ben Fadden