We Still Don’t Know How Padres New Owners Feel About Lockout

The San Diego Padres have a new ownership group, and they announced their arrival with a press conference that was more like a celebrated . The party was all about the new owners being "all-in" on winning, and they proceeded to prove it by giving GM A.J. Preller the freedom to trade for starters Casey Mize and Robbie Ray.

That move didn't quite work out the way the Padres wanted it to, but the pair did give manager Craig Stammen enough innings to get the Padres to the playoffs and a series win.

We still don't know how the new owners feel about the coming lockout, but we're about to get some clues. The GM meetings happen on Nov. 9, and they're expected to generate a flurry of free agent activity because there almost certainly won't be any winter meetings after Dec. 1.

Expect Preller to be in on this, and it's hard to imagine him having anything else than an itchy trigger finger when it comes to potential deals. Whether he'll be allowed to do it is a different question entirely, as some owners will doubtless sit out this particular free agency dance until new rules are in place about spending, a salary cap and so on.