Going into the season, the Austin Nola trade looked good for A.J. Preller and the San Diego Padres. After he was acquired from the Seattle Mariners before the 2020 trade deadline, Nola earned the respect of a lot of Padres fans because he played through a broken foot.
A year later though, the returns on the Nola deal don’t look as great. He could and probably will make the trade look better down the road because the Padres still have him under control for the next four seasons. But as for this year, Nola was a disappointment.