At the height of his teardown, A.J. Preller walked away from the 2015 Rule 5 draft with four players — three relievers and a long-shot bet on a power-hitting outfielder that he hoped to stash on the active roster. The next year, the Padres’ general manager took another reliever, a catcher and an infielder back to San Diego.
This year, perhaps Preller’s chief concern is what’s on other teams’ shopping lists heading into Thursday’s Rule 5 draft, a particularly curious endeavor as baseball begins to wrap its collective head around just how the incoming 26-man roster will impact team construction.