Ranking Padres trades during the Tingler era

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres host the Mariners this weekend, and then travel to Milwaukee -- which means they'll see all sorts of familiar faces over the next week.

The Mariners have become one of the Padres' favorite trade partners, and the Brewers, of course, marked the first trade of the Jayce Tingler era -- a deal that landed Trent Grisham in San Diego.

Since Tingler took over in October 2019, Padres general manager A.J. Preller has been the most active GM on the trade market, bar none. He's overhauled San Diego's roster in a big way -- turning it into a legitimate World Series contender in the process.

In the 19 months since Tingler was hired, Preller has swung 15 trades for big league players. Here they are, ranked:

1. Dec. 29, 2020: Padres acquire Yu Darvish and Victor Caratini from the Cubs for Zach Davies, Owen Caissie, Ismael Mena, Reginald Preciado and Yeison Santana

Darvish has been so utterly dominant that it's hard to believe the Padres only parted with four prospects ranked outside their top 10 (plus Davies). There was a legit case to be made for Darvish as the National League Cy Young Award in 2020. And this year, he's been even better, posting a 1.81 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. Caratini -- who's reaching base at a .343 clip, with clutch hits and excellent defense behind the plate -- is the cherry on top.

2. Nov. 27, 2019: Padres acquire Trent Grisham and Zach Davies from the Brewers for Luis Urías and Eric Lauer

The Darvish deal, at the time it was made, felt like an obvious win for the Padres. This one wasn't as clear. It's worth remembering where things stood when the Padres acquired Grisham. He hadn't yet proven himself capable of handling center field, and he'd played only 51 games with a .231 average. Urías, meanwhile, was a highly touted middle-infield prospect, and Lauer appeared to have some upside, too. But Preller nailed this one. Urías and Lauer have struggled in Milwaukee. Grisham, on the other hand, has become an elite defender and an on-base weapon atop San Diego's lineup. He looks like the long-term answer in center field.

3. Jan. 19, 2021: Padres acquire Joe Musgrove from the Pirates for Joey Lucchesi (who went to the Mets), Omar Cruz, Drake Fellows, Hudson Head and David Bednar

It's hard to imagine a trade paying dividends more quickly than this one. In Musgrove's second start, he etched his name into the history books, authoring the franchise's first no-hitter. More importantly, Musgrove's presence has elevated the Padres' rotation into one of the best in baseball. The fact that Preller landed Musgrove while parting with only one big-name prospect (Head), has this trade skyrocketing up these rankings.

4. Dec. 6, 2019: Padres acquire Jake Cronenworth and Tommy Pham from the Rays for Hunter Renfroe, Xavier Edwards and Esteban Quiroz

It was "the Tommy Pham trade" at the time, but Cronenworth was far from just a throw-in. He has since grabbed hold of the second-base job, hitting .295/.366/.464 since his arrival. Sure, Pham has struggled. But Renfroe was non-tendered by Tampa Bay during the offseason before landing in Boston. Edwards remains a tantalizing prospect, but if his ceiling is a contact-and-defense-oriented starter in the middle of the infield -- well, the Padres have one of those: Cronenworth.

5. Dec. 29, 2020: Padres acquire Blake Snell from the Rays for Francisco Mejía, Luis Patiño, Blake Hunt and Cole Wilcox

Snell's ranking below San Diego's two other rotation additions is no knock on him. It's merely an indication that the Padres gave up more to acquire him than Darvish or Musgrove. Patiño's upside remains huge, while the other three are intriguing pieces. That said, if the Padres get the dominant Cy Young-caliber version of Snell over the next three seasons, chalk this one up as another Preller victory.

6. July 16, 2020: Padres acquire Tim Hill from the Royals for Franchy Cordero and Ronald Bolaños

An underrated trade. Hill has been a crucial left-handed weapon in the Padres' bullpen. Bolaños and Cordero have done very little in comparison.

7. Aug. 31, 2020: Padres acquire Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla from the Mariners for Taylor Trammell, Ty France, Luis Torrens and Andrés Muñoz

The jury's still out on this one. The Mariners received a handful of pieces who could contribute regularly. But it's a price the Padres were happy to pay to resolve their longstanding issues at catcher -- which Nola has done. (Not to mention, Adams looks like he might develop into a legitimate high-leverage relief weapon.)

8. Dec. 2, 2019: Padres acquire Jurickson Profar from the A's for Austin Allen and Buddy Reed

The Padres didn't have space for Allen and Reed on their 40-man roster, so they shipped them to the A's for Profar. Profar only had one year left on his contract at the time, but he was a valuable utility piece in '20, then re-upped with the Padres during the offseason.

9. Feb. 8, 2020: Padres acquire Emilio Pagán from the Rays for Manuel Margot

Tough to grade this one. Pagán and Margot have been serviceable for their new teams, but not a whole lot more. The Rays had a glut of relievers, and the Padres were ready to hand center field to Grisham. Seems to have worked out OK for both sides.

10. Aug. 29, 2020: Padres acquire Trevor Rosenthal from the Royals for Edward Olivares and Dylan Coleman

This one's a matter of personal preference. Rosenthal was a rental -- so how much are his nine dominant regular season outings (0.00 ERA) and three ninth-inning appearances in the NL Wild Card Series worth to you? Seems like the Padres paid a fair price.

11. June 30, 2020: Padres acquire Jorge Mateo from the A's for Junior Perez

Cheap price to pay for Mateo, who has become a useful bench piece with years of team control.

12. Aug. 31, 2020: Padres acquire Jason Castro from the Angels for Gerardo Reyes

The Padres got a month and a half of competence at their backup catcher spot in exchange for Reyes, who is now dealing with elbow trouble.

13. Aug. 31, 2020: Padres acquire Taylor Williams from the Mariners for Matt Brash

OK, let's get to the bigger trade that happened the same day...

14. Aug. 31, 2020: Padres acquire Mike Clevinger, Greg Allen and Matt Waldron from Cleveland for Gabriel Arias, Joey Cantillo, Owen Miller, Austin Hedges, Josh Naylor and Cal Quantrill

They don't all work out. In retrospect, this deal is tough to swallow for the Padres, and not because it was a bad trade at the time. If Clevinger performs like, well, Clevinger in the 2020 postseason and '21 season, it's a win for San Diego. But Clevinger underwent Tommy John surgery last November, meaning San Diego traded for just four Clevinger starts in '20 and an unpredictable '22 season. It gave up an awful lot for that return.

15. Aug. 30, 2020: Padres acquire Mitch Moreland from the Red Sox for Hudson Potts and Jeisson Rosario

Hindsight is 20/20, and, again, this was a reasonable move at the time. Moreland, however, contributed very little in San Diego, and Potts and Rosario are prospects with upside. Still, if this deal is Preller's biggest miss -- in which he dealt two prospects who were 40-man-roster question marks -- it's probably a good indication of how well the rest of these moves have panned out.