MIAMI — A.J. Preller got started early this year.
The Padres general manager on Sunday came to terms with the Pittsburgh Pirates on a trade for second baseman Adam Frazier, who also plays left field.
The deal, which is pending medical reviews, involves the Padres also receiving a significant portion of the approximately $1.6 million remaining on Frazier’s 2021 salary. The 29-year-old, who has a .324 batting average and .388 on-base percentage this season, is under team control through ’22.
The Padres will send three minor leaguers to the Pirates, including 21-year-old infielder/outfielder Tucupita Marcano, their fifth-ranked prospect, who hit .280 with a .480 OPS in 50 major league plate appearances this season. Single-A pitcher Michell Miliano and Double-A oufielder Jack Suwinski are also headed to the Pirates.
After making a flurry of trades in the final 72 hours before the trade deadline last year, Preller began his work trying to upgrade the current roster with five days to go before Friday’s deadline by adding a player who started in the All-Star Game to a team that had five All-Stars.
Frazier has hit .283/.347/.420 in six seasons with the Pirates. He is putting up career highs in virtually every category. His .844 OPS is 95 points higher than his career mark coming into this season. He leads the major leagues with 125 hits and is tied for fourth with 28 doubles.
It is not entirely clear how Frazier will figure into a lineup that has All-Star second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who is batting .278 with a .352 OBP, and left fielder Tommy Pham, who is batting .260 with a .373 OBP.
What the Padres plan to do is use almost everyone almost everywhere. They will likely employ a different lineup every night, using players at different positions even more than they do now.
Frazier has played 708 innings in left field, 230 innings in right field and 63 innings in center field in his career. All the Padres outfielders can play multiple spots.
Cronenworth has started 12 games at first base. In fact, he played there in the All-Star Game, which means at some point this season the Padres will almost certainly have an all-All-Star infield with Manny Machado at third, Fernando Tatis Jr. at shortstop, Frazier at second and Cronenworth at first.
It is also possible they will trade away one or more players on their major league roster.
The Padres, who are in third place in the National League West after Sunday’s 9-3 loss to the Marlins, are still seeking at least one starting pitcher.
They started with offense, which has been through peaks and valleys this season.
The Padres just hit .195 and scored 19 runs in the final six games of their road trip. That is reminiscent of other periods of a week or longer this season in which they went cold, though in the 27 games leading up to this past week, they led the majors with an .884 OPS and 6.1 runs per game.
The Padres added nine major leaguers in six trades between Aug. 29 and 31 of last year. That type of volume is not expected before Friday’s 1 p.m. PT deadline.
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