Padres promote, extend Preller, Greupner through 2026 season

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Padres have promoted general manager A.J. Preller to president of baseball operations and extended his contract through the 2026 season.

The Padres also promoted Erik Greupner from president of business operations to CEO and extended his contract through 2026. The promotions were announced Tuesday.

Preller was hired as GM in August 2014 and he has rebuilt the Padres into a playoff team. They ended a 13-year postseason drought in 2020, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in a wild card series before losing to the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series.

Since Christmas, Preller has added starting pitchers Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove in blockbuster deals, and signed South Korean slugger Kim Ha-seong.

Preller has built the Padres’ farm system into one of the best in the majors. He also traded for star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. while he was still a minor leaguer, and signed free agents Manny Machado, Eric Hosmer and Drew Pomeranz.

“Erik and A.J. have earned their promotions by assembling strong business and baseball operations groups within our organization while working together toward our singular goal of winning a World Series championship,” Padres owner Peter Seidler said in a statement.