For much of the offseason, as the Padres' payroll teetered around the collective bargaining tax, external speculation centered around which players they might trade in order to stay below that number.

I think we have a team, like you saw last year, that’s capable of going down and accomplishing our goal,” Greupner said.

Per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell, Padres CEO Erik Greupner had this to say about how the franchise will remain aggressive to add winning talent, even if it costs them much money: “If that’s what it takes to put together a competitive team that we think can accomplish the goals we have as an organization,