If Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill fail to hit to their accustomed levels, San Diego Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller might consider it futile to adopt his usual frenzied approach at the trade deadline.But seriously, does anyone expect that out of the executive who gives the entire sport whiplash virtually every year?If anything, Preller could become even more dangerous once the Padres’ $3.9 billion sale to José E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, is finalized. At the past three deadlines, Preller operated with limited payroll flexibility. Some teams hear that Feliciano and Jones, while not yet approved, plan to grant him greater financial leeway.The Padres’ farm system, depleted from all of Preller’s wheeling and dealing, is the worst in baseball, according to The Athletic’s Keith Law. But people seem to say that every year, and every year Preller comes up with prospects to trade.The bigger questions, perhaps, are whether the Padres will merit reinforcement at the deadline, and what their biggest needs might be.Somehow, the Padres are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the first wild-card spot in the National League. With Tatis, Machado and Merrill all sporting OPSes below .700. With the offense through Tuesday ranked ahead only of the Kansas City Royals in runs per game. With right-hander Yu Darvish spending all season on the restricted list while recovering from major elbow surgery, and with Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove still not close to returning from injuries.Tatis has been hot of late, but complementary players such as Gavin Sheets, Miguel Andujar and Ty France have been among the Padres’ biggest offensive contributors. If Machado and Merrill return to form, the team’s lineup should be in relatively decent shape.Then again, another outfielder could help. Ramón Laureano struggled before going on the injured list with a hip issue. Nick Castellanos was designated for assignment on Wednesday after batting .191 with a .560 OPS in 122 plate appearances.The bigger void, though, almost certainly will be in the rotation, which the Padres have been piecing together behind righties Michael King and Randy Vasquez all season.Which prospects are left for Preller to move?Catcher Ethan Salas, who just turned 20 on Monday, has regained his status as one of the game’s top young talents, batting .309 with an .857 OPS at Double A. But Preller, as he did with Merrill, might consider him too valuable to trade.Freddy Fermin, one of Preller’s acquisitions at last year’s deadline, entered Wednesday batting .130 with a .403 OPS. And Salas by the end of this season might be ready to pair with Luis Campusano, who got off to a good start and should return before long from a fractured left big toe.If not Salas, Preller can dangle left-hander Kash Mayfield, the Padres’ first-round pick in 2024, who is pitching well at High A. Righty Tucker Musgrove, a seventh-rounder in 2023, is a reliever at High A averaging more than two strikeouts per inning. Another possibility would be outfielder Ryan Wideman, a third-rounder in 2025. Wideman is hitting well and stealing bases at Low A, but his batted-ball luck indicates regression is possible, if not likely.Preller will do something. He always does. Never afraid to double down on a strength, he has explored the market for high-end relievers, as The Athletic’s Dennis Lin wrote last month. And if the Detroit Tigers make back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal available, president of baseball operations Scott Harris should expect to hear from his counterpart in San Diego, over and over again.Maybe the Padres will stumble, forcing Preller to refrain from heavy action. Maybe Feliciano and Jones will be unable or unwilling to provide fresh financial resources, depending upon when they are approved.For the Padres, a lot rides on the next two months, even more than it does for most teams.Brewers’ Turang a tower of strengthDuring the World Baseball Classic, Los Angeles Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel served in the same capacity for Team USA and threw batting practice to the top American hitters.One day, Ebel posed a question to Team USA manager Mark DeRosa.“If you had to pick the guy who hit the ball the farthest consistently, who would you think it was?” Ebel asked.As Ebel recalls, DeRosa guessed Aaron Judge or Bryce Harper.“Brice Turang,” Ebel replied.Ebel said that during batting practice in Houston and Miami the Milwaukee Brewers second baseman hit balls to places he had never seen, displaying “Shohei-type power.”Brice Turang swings in a game against the Padres earlier this month. (Benny Sieu-Imagn Images)Turang, 26, hit a career-high 18 home runs last season. This season he has seven, and his .456 slugging percentage and .858 OPS would represent career-highs. Ebel believes he is capable of one day hitting 35 to 40 homers.Baseball America, in its report on Turang entering the 2018 draft, wrote, “at just 6-foot-1, 165 pounds, the biggest knock on him is his size.” The 165 might have been a generous estimate. You would never know it looking at him, but Turang estimates he has gained 35 pounds since the Brewers took him 21st overall out of Santiago H.S. in Corona, Calif.His biggest weight jump came after his rookie season in 2023, when Turang said he gained about 25 pounds, “eating everything you can possibly eat, drinking tons of protein shakes.” Training with Keith Coury, with whom he first worked when he was 16, he has increased his weight to the 185-190 pound range.Coury, who once ran the sports performance side at a baseball training center operated by Turang’s father, Brian, said Turang was concerned he might lose speed if he put on weight.