A.J. Preller is expected to receive an extension offer this offseason, according to sources within the Padres organization.

The Padres’ president of baseball operations, however, does not believe his contract status should have any bearing on a manager search that’s already begun.

In fact, interested parties began reaching out to Preller shortly after manager Mike Shildt announced Monday that he was walking away from the job with two years remaining on his contract .

“I think it’s a really attractive job,” Preller said in a 45-minute video conference on Tuesday. “ … Everybody talks about the atmosphere that has been created by the fans of San Diego. You get 3 1/2 million fans coming to the ballpark, year in, year out. It’s a great organization. We produce players. We put talented ros

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