SAN DIEGO -- The non-waiver Trade Deadline has come and gone. Tyson Ross, Kirby Yates and Craig Stammen are still with the Padres. Chris Archer -- a front-line starter linked repetitively to San Diego over the past few weeks -- is bound for Pittsburgh.
Ultimately, the Padres' roster looked the same on Tuesday evening as it did on Tuesday morning -- and the two weeks before that.
"It was an active week, active day in terms of discussion," general manager A.J. Preller said. "Ultimately things just didn't line up."
Two days after the All-Star Game, San Diego pulled off one of the summer's biggest deals, sending Brad Hand and Adam Cimber to Cleveland for baseball's top catching prospect, Francisco Mejia.
But the Padres were quiet after that. Stammen is under team control through 2019 and Yates through '20, and both are expected to be commodities this offseason. Ross meanwhile, will be a free agent. He has expressed a desire to return to San Diego, where he has twice revived his career.
"The nice part, for us, after talking to a lot of different teams, is seeing the way our players are valued," Preller said. "We felt like this particular time, this particular Deadline, there wasn't a deal to connect on. We felt maybe it'd be better down the road."
'A seat at the table'
All along, Archer's fit with the Padres raised eyebrows. San Diego sits 25 games below .500. Surely a front-line arm like Archer would bring more value to a contending club?
That turned out to be precisely the case. Preller didn't meet Tampa Bay's lofty asking price -- a package of prospects, plus big leaguers. Still, the Padres have made it clear they're going to be aggressive in their pursuit of quality big league talent -- so long as it's controllable. They have the farm system chops, after all.
"You saw it here in the past month: When established players are potentially moved, we're going to be part of those discussions," Preller said. "We have players that other teams like. Part of the evaluation process will be: at what time do we want to potentially move guys from our organization to get more established players?
"We like a lot of the depth and quality we've built up in the Minor League system. It's going to be part of making us a winning organization. We'll evaluate again in the offseason. But I think you've started to see in the last six months or so that we've at least had a seat at the table."
Bullpen's back
Stammen brought his putter with him to the Padres' clubhouse on Tuesday morning. Setting his phone to the side, he made an impromptu putting green and passed the time that way, as rumors swirled.
Yates, meanwhile, prepared for Tuesday's game the same way he always does -- though he was forced to respond to a few curious texts from friends and family members. "You guys know just as much as I do, so I can't help you," he told them.
Among the players on the Padres' active roster, Stammen and Yates received the most attention. It's easy to see why. Stammen owns a 2.58 ERA in 47 appearances. Yates has a 1.52 mark in 42 games. Both would clearly fit nicely in a postseason-bound bullpen. But the Padres set a high asking price on the duo, and as the Deadline approached it became obvious that price wasn't going to be met.
"I didn't want to go anywhere, still don't want to get traded," Yates said. "I like it here. I want to stay here, be a part of this movement that sticks around the next few years. … I'm happy to still be a Padre."
Hall of Fame-worthy Deadline
Years from now, there won't be any tales of a franchise-altering trade that Preller pulled off from Cooperstown, N.Y. That's where the Padres' front office set up shop over the past five days, as Trevor Hoffman was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The baseball operations team executed most of its Deadline work from a hotel just outside Cooperstown, where they rented a pair of adjoining suites as a base for any and all trade discussions.
"It was a unique experience and pretty special," Preller said. "It had probably more of a Winter Meetings feel to it, but it was kind of a nice change of pace."