The room where it happens: Inside A.J. Preller's process, production at the trade deadline

They call it “The Room.”

It can be any room.

A.J. Preller’s office for most of the year. The upstairs conference room at the Peoria Sports Complex during spring training. Preller’s hotel suite at the winter meetings.

The Room is wherever what Preller calls “The Group” gets together to talk baseball and baseball players.

And they do that a lot.

There is probably no way to quantify it, but more than a dozen current and former Padres employees who have also worked (or work) in other organizations suggest that Preller and his lieutenants watch more baseball and talk more baseball than any other front office.

Whether that is fact or not, there can be little dispute that what they are able to pull off in The Room is because of mountainous preparation.

As one member of The Group said after