Mason Miller is the last Padre standing.
He’s the lone San Diego representative to the National League All-Star team for the game scheduled July 14 at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park. After a disappointing first half of the season, no other Padre except their closer was even a possibility.
“It’s a privilege and an honor,” Miller told Times of San Diego on Monday, before the Padres suffered another disheartening loss at Petco Park, falling 8-0 to the Diamondbacks. “I’m just glad I have the body of work to get me there.”
Miller sports a 2-1 record with 22 saves, an 0.98 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings in an awe-inspiring first half. Miller has had a hand in 55% of the club’s 44 victories. This is his second All-Star appearance, following a 2024 American League selection when he was still a member of the Athletics. The Padres acquired him last year at the trade deadline when he had 20 saves in 38 appearances for the A’s.
But as the Padres fade from contending even in the NL Wild Card race, Miller is becoming a prime candidate to be traded again by this season’s Aug. 3 deadline.
His name keeps popping up on the rumor mill, but Miller said he pays no attention to it.
“It’s not real,” he said. “It’s just rumors that aren’t based on fact.”
Perhaps. But that could change. As the Padres have plummeted, losing nine of their last 10 games through Monday, Miller has become a luxury. He’s appeared only three times during that dubious streak. One was Sunday in Los Angeles when he recorded his 22nd save against the Dodgers in the club’s lone win since June 26.
Long periods of inactivity weigh on a closer.
“It’s the same thing as a guy who sits on the bench and only gets a few at bats a week,” Miller said. “It’s a lot harder to feel confident during a stretch when it takes a lot of time between appearances. That’s part of the battle about different roles in this league. It doesn’t matter how good you feel, you just have to go out there and compete. You go out there with whatever stuff you have that day and do your best.”
Miller throws his fastball consistently at 100 miles per hour and mixes that with a devastating 88-mph slider. He throws 57% of his pitches for strikes. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 5.15 whiffs for every walk, and his WHIP is 0.818.
But all of that is contingent on staying consistent because of use or lack thereof.
“I think I’ve thrown pretty well and battled through certain things individually,” Miller said of his first half. “Regardless of how often I’m pitching I go out and try to throw the same way each time.”
With the team’s sale still pending to Jose Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, at a valuation of $3.9 billion, there’s a question about how much flexibility Padres general manager A.J. Preller may have at the deadline.
The Padres may want to shed a few of their underperforming high-price stars like Fernando Tatis, Manny Machado or Xander Bogaerts. They have MLB’s seventh highest payroll of $258.2 million and a projected luxury tax bill of $14.2 million, but their team batting average is an MLB-worst .224 and their starting pitching is nearly as bad, with a 4.80 ERA that ranks 26th in the league. That’s not much bang for the buck.
Tatis, signed through 2034, has hit five home runs. Machado, signed through 2033, is batting .190. Bogaerts, also signed through 2033, is hitting .231. Machado has five and 10-year rights — earned by accumulating 10 years in the Majors, five with the same team — meaning he’s impossible to trade without his permission. The Padres would have to eat sizeable portions of their contracts to move Tatis or Bogaerts.
And those are probably decisions to be made when ownership transfers. Right now, that’s still making its way through the MLB approval process, leading Machado to wonder what’s taking so long.
“Yeah, what’s going on with that?” Machado said on Monday. “I thought it would’ve been done by now. I’ve spoken to Feliciano a little bit, so I know he’s eager to get on with it and help the city and help this team win. I don’t know what’s taking so long. But it’s been a weird year for everyone in this clubhouse.”
That’s what makes Miller so attractive to trade or acquire. At nearly 28, he’s under control for three more seasons of arbitration before he hits free agency in 2030. He settled this year with the Padres for $4 million and is worth every cent he’s making and much more.
He’d be a hot commodity for a contender and fill a lot of sore spots right now for the Padres in a deal.
First the All-Star Game. After then there’s 20 shopping days until the deadline.
Miller, who’s from Pittsburgh, expects plenty of friends and family to drive across to state to Philadelphia for the game. And he has his own deal to make.
“I get six tickets,” he said. “Everybody else is on their own.”
