Padres didn't sell at trade deadline, still see themselves as contenders

For all the big moves we saw Friday and in the week leading up to the trade deadline, one of the biggest surprises is that the San Diego Padres didn't make any.

The potential was there for them to pull of a handful of trades. Justin Upton, Craig Kimbrel, James Shields, Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy, Joaquin Benoit and Will Venable were all mentioned in rumors recently but the deadline has come and gone and they all remain in San Diego. At least for now, anyway.

It's not only that San Diego decided not sell, they even went out Friday and acquired left-handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski from Cleveland for reserve outfielder Abraham Almonte to solidify their bullpen.

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General manager A.J. Preller was famously active this offseason, overhauling the Padres' roster and putting together a team he thought was capable of winning the World Series.

The season hasn't been a great success so far – San Diego is 49-53, fourth in the NL West, and Bud Black was fired as the manager and replaced by Pat Murphy back in June – but just like he did four months ago, Preller stills thinks the Padres can reach the postseason according to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal:

The Padres are on a bit of a roll of late, winning 10 of their last 14 games, but it feels like they would have to play close to that pace over the next two months to really get back in the race. The good news is that their next six series are against teams below .500.

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This doesn't mean San Diego won't do anything. Rosenthal points out that players like Kennedy, Benoit and Venable could still be moved in August after they're placed on waivers.

It's still a bit of a stunner though that Preller and the Padres were quiet when everyone expected them to be the most active team on the market.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr