SAN DIEGO — It’s that time, once again.

Time to behold the A.J. Preller Effect on baseball’s national media, as they report and pontificate on potential splashy trades or free-agent signings to come.

Preller’s bold track record demands that every pundit or reporter mention the Padres as a potential destination for almost every available star. These good folks have learned that the Padres’ President of Baseball Operations is like the stealthy dude at the pool party — apt to drop the perfect cannonball and drench the well-dressed guests who’d stopped paying attention.

If this MLB era were transplanted back to the mid-1920s, the reportorial schtick would read like this:

“Although the Yankees say they don’t have a desire to move any of their stars, don’t count out A.J. Preller going after both Ruth and Gehrig. Also, there are rumblings (gotta have rumblings) that Preller will try to get Pie Traynor from the Pirates and, failing that, will push to land either of the Waner brothers, despite having traded half of his St. Louis Browns farm system each of the past three years.”

Off and running

This MLB offseason’s hype train is just now leaving the station, and Preller’s ticket already has been punched for Business Class.

Excellent ESPN reporter Buster Olney writes that Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet will be shopped, but that only a handful of teams appear to have both the coveted prospects and the potential inclination to entice general manager Chris Getz.

Olney lists Phillies trade-maker Dave Dombrowski as the top candidate to get Crochet, followed next by … yep … him.

“Padres GM A.J. Preller has demonstrated he is capable of adding or subtracting any caliber of player,” Olney writes. “He has traded for and swapped away Juan Soto, who will likely shatter the record for the biggest contract ever this winter (in present-day value). Last spring, he made a deal with Getz for Dylan Cease.

“With Cease and Michael King a year from free agency and Joe Musgrove expected to miss next season following elbow surgery, Crochet would be a big help for the San Diego rotation for at least a couple of years.”

The cost to the Padres?

Olney suggests that, according to “some rival evaluators,” an offer might have to involve either or both of the teenagers who head San Diego’s list of prospects — catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leodalis De Vries.

Put another way: Cannonball!

Would Preller trade De Vries?

I’d be shocked.

I base this entirely on what a sharp MLB scout with a neutral club told me this summer. He lauded De Vries in rarefied terms, unprompted.

Only 18 as well, Salas is a catcher who has already logged two full seasons in the minor leagues.

Entering this past season, Salas had so impressed former Toronto Blue Jays baseball analyst Keith Law that he invoked Johnny Bench, the Hall of Fame catcher and pitch man for a paint company, in his scouting report.

“It’s a potential bat that would play at first base attached to a catcher who might be plus in every meaningful aspect of the position,” Law wrote for The Athletic in February. “If he keeps hitting, Krylon might put him in their commercials.”

This year, Salas didn’t have a great second full season with the bat. He batted .206 with a .599 OPS in high Single-A with Ft. Wayne. OK, so maybe the Bench comp, though good fun, was a bit rich.

Nevertheless, it was impressive that Salas, despite being 4.4 years younger than the league’s weighted average, hit 27 doubles across the 412 at-bats. In addition to catching 67 professional games while being the same age as a high school senior, the lefty walked enough (47) and didn’t strike out too often by today’s standards. In recent games in the Arizona Fall League, Salas showed improved power, hitting three home runs, one short of his season total in the Midwest League. Suggestion: a Terry Kenndy comparison might be worth pondering.

The caveat about Preller being an ever-lurking wild card in the trade markets can’t be dismissed. But as Olney also noted, the Padres will need young players to pan out for their future teams, if only to offer financial bargains that can offset the large salaries due older players.

The Preller Effect on national baseball media is actually a badge of honor

After an early tenure that generated enough chop to induce sea sickness, Preller hit on a high number of moves dating to the offseason of 2020-21.

It only makes sense to keep an eye out for him. Look away, and a cannonball might be coming.

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