The Padres and Phillies are rarities as teams willing to trade top prospects, and they’re better for it. They are zigging when nearly everyone else is zagging, and it’s working.

Padres GM A.J. Preller and Phillies baseball president Dave Dombrowski, who annually go for it, are the only GMs who traded top-100 prospects, and it’s paying off already. Both teams moved into first place since the deadline, with the Padres going 9-3 and edging past the Dodgers, and the Phillies at 8-4 heading into Thursday and blowing past the Mets.

The boldness of Preller and Dombrowski makes them outliers in a sea of extreme caution.

“Nobody wants to give [bleep] up,” one other GM said, meaning top prospects.

See Full Page