Tom Krasovic: Powerful ‘pen means Padres won’t have to overpay at deadline

Thanks in large part to A.J. Preller having built MLB’s best bullpen, the Padres stand in good shape as Thursday’s MLB trade deadline and August loom.

One, the team has a great shot at claiming a fourth wild-card playoff berth in six years.

Heck, the Padres may even be able to rest key pitchers down the stretch. They’re better than the teams pursuing them in the wild-card race. The seven scoreless innings pitched Wednesday by Yu Darvish in a 5-0, sweep-completing win over the Mets in the East Village reinforced that reality.

Two, the bullpen’s depth, which extends to the farm system, has given Preller leverage going into the trade deadline, which comes Thursday at 3 p.m.

Good relievers are in high demand. Contenders are already paying stiff prices to get them.

As a buyer, Preller can sit out that frenzied market. This would protect a Padres farm system that ranks in the mid-20s, per media analysts.

Preller may even be able to deal from the bullpen, improving other areas. Trading closer Robert Suarez would be risky, but he could command a good price. That’s how deep the Padres’ bullpen ranks are.

I don’t know if Preller anticipated the bullpen market heating up to nuclear-reactor levels. But it did so Wednesday afternoon, with more deals sure to follow.

The Mets knew they lacked a championship bullpen. So their top talent man, David Stearns — one of the league’s better team-builders — traded for Giants reliever Tyler Rogers and Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley on Wednesday while the Padres were brooming away his team.

Stearns gave up a painful amount of minor-league talent, judged media analysts, to bolster his bullpen.

Desperate for relievers of their own, the Phillies paid up, too.

To land Twins closer Jhoan Duran, Dave Dombrowski, in pursuit of his third World Series ring, dealt a catcher and a starting pitcher from his farm system.

In many other summers, those prices would’ve been too rich.

So although Preller hasn’t built a perfect Padres team here, his bullpen expertise earns an A+.

Just how well has the Padres’ bullpen performed?

It leads the big leagues in ERA, fielding independent ERA, left on base percentage and win shares, and it stands second in home run percentage of fly balls. It’s MLB-best ranking in win probability added blows away the other five NL clubs that would reach the postseason if the season ended today.

Given the enviable health Padres relievers have enjoyed in comparison to many other bullpens, at a time when MLB as a whole is contending with an injury crisis, kudos are also due manager Mike Shildt, pitching coach Ruben Niebla and bullpen coach Ben Fritz.

Sometimes in his bullpen management, Shildt has appeared extra urgent to win a game. With so many capable relievers, it’s easier to attack in-season games like it’s the World Series.

“We work them appropriately,” Shildt said Wednesday after Jason Adam (1.89 ERA) and Suarez, sitting at 98-99 with his sinker and his four-seam fastball, finished off the Mets. “We’re very mindful about the holistic approach we take and the communication we have with our relievers. And when you have a good team, your top guys are going to pitch. It’s just the fact of the matter. Good news is, we have depth in our bullpen. We use it. We’ve also spread it around.”

Loving up some of the bullpen’s less-heralded contributors, Shildt continued.

“In this last stretch of 13 games, if you really look at the distribution of innings, you can feel pretty good about looking at (Ron) Marinaccio getting his work when he was here, Kyle Hart getting his work when he was here. (Wandy) Peralta is taking the ball quite a bit. (David) Morgan was, you know, six out of eight (games). Yuki (Matsui) got in there (Tuesday). All (the full-season relievers) have pitched almost equally. So I feel like we’re passing the ball around pretty judiciously.”

Asked about Preller’s bullpen-building prowess, Shildt got off a good line.

“I wouldn’t trade him, pun intended, for any general manager in baseball,” Shildt said. “He’s really brilliant.”

Until the Padres win a World Series, many folks won’t be impressed — and that’s fine. The Padres are relevant going into their second stretch drive under the Preller-Shildt tandem.

For baseball’s hungriest fan base, that’s not a bad start.