For a young man who has spent so much of his life kept fiercely out of the spotlight, Barron Trump made his TV debut at a shockingly young age.

He was just two months old when his proud parents allowed Gayle King – then working on The Oprah Winfrey Show – to come and coo over him in the baroque splendor of their $100 million penthouse in Trump Tower.

But first, Melania Trump dutifully gushed over her husband’s paternal instincts: ‘He’s amazing, you know. He takes [Barron] in the morning when he wakes up. And he brings him in his room and they’re watching TV together and they’re reading the papers.’

Then it was off to baby Barron’s grand nursery, a corner room with sweeping views of Manhattan and stuffed full of huge soft toys, where The Donald borrowed his son – dressed in a flouncy old-fashioned baby boy dress – from the nanny so he could hold him for the cameras.

‘See the little delicate hands,’ said the business tycoon who would one day be mocked over the small size of his own hands.

Then King got down to the tough questions.

‘So Donald, you’re not opposed to changing diapers, you just haven’t had to do it,’ she quizzed. ‘But you know how to do it?’

‘I would be able to do it, yes,’ replied the father of five.

But before King had time to ask him to prove it, Barron started wailing and a relieved-looking Trump passed him back to his mother.

Eighteen years later, Barron is rather bigger – at 6’7, he looms over his 6’3 father – but still very much tied to Mom.

He comes of age today, after a high-profile childhood that, if physically pampered, cannot have been emotional plain-sailing with such a polarizing man for a dad.

The first boy to grow up in the White House since JFK Jr in 1963, he has lived through scandal after scandal – shielded, as best she could, by a highly protective mother.

In January 2018, he was not yet 12 when the media was engulfed by porn star Stormy Daniels’s bombshell claims that she had an affair with Donald just four months after Barron was born.

During his presidency, Trump’s most ardent critics even resorted to criticizing the young boy as a means of attacking his father.

Comedian Rosie O’Donnell, who had reason to hate Trump for once calling her a ‘pig’ and a ‘degenerate’, shared a video in 2016 making wild and totally unfounded claims that Barron had autism.

O’Donnell later publicly apologized to Melania, but the damage was already done. The following year, during Trump’s inauguration, SNL writer Katie Rich tweeted: ‘Barron will be this country’s first homeschool shooter’.

In fact, the slurs hurled at Barron got so bad, that another former First Child – from across the aisle – spoke up on his behalf.

Chelsea Clinton tweeted: ‘Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does-to be a kid.’

And Trump Sr deserved the chance to be a dad. 

Although he would boast in 2015 that ‘I’ve always prided myself on being a good father’, biographers say he agreed with Melania that if she had a child, he wouldn’t be actively involved in their day-to-day upbringing. (Trump wasn’t even in the delivery room, although he suggested ‘Barron’ as a name).

Melania had help when Barron was very small, but she later insisted on raising him largely by herself – with considerable assistance from her Slovenian parents.

While some – Melania included – claimed to see a strong resemblance between Donald and Barron, nicknamed ‘Little Donald’, when he was a baby, others now insist that in one crucial respect he’s very different.

‘I cannot stress enough how kind and polite Barron is… he’s just a great kid,’ Stephanie Grisham, former White House Press Secretary and Melania’s one-time chief-of-staff told DailyMail.com.

Grisham added that she saw a ‘definite difference’ between Barron and his much older half-siblings – who include Ivanka, Donald Jr, Eric and Tiffany.

‘Just very, very kind and humble and empathetic and smart,’ Grisham said. ‘Not that I’m saying his half-siblings aren’t smart at all.’

That also doesn’t mean to say that Barron missed out on the same cosseted upbringing enjoyed by his elder siblings, who have earned something of a reputation for being a chip off the Trump block.

Melania has always indulged Barron, admitting that she allowed him to draw on the walls of his playroom for fear of stifling his creativity.

‘His imagination is growing and important,’ she told Parenting magazine in 2012, adding that – as fitting his grandiose name – young Baron had an entire floor of Trump Tower to himself.

At night, Melania would slaver his skin with her own-brand caviar moisturizer.

And at five, he announced that he wanted to become a businessman like his father, preferring to wear a suit and tie than jeans and a T-shirt.

‘He is a very strong-minded… He is independent and opinionated and knows exactly what he wants,’ Melania told Parenting mag.

In 2016, when Barron was 10, she did another interview, this time with Us Weekly, telling the publication that she was at home ‘most of the time’ with Barron, ‘giving him morals and tradition and teaching him values’.

According to Stephanie Grisham, for family-oriented Melania, Barron always ‘came first’.

‘She did things very much her way,’ Grisham added. ‘But she also did a great job in keeping him shielded from a lot of the animosity.’

Barron was educated at a succession of the smartest and most expensive private schools, including Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where his mother would take him to and from school in a chauffeured SUV.

She’d also cook his breakfast every morning and prepare his lunch.

He was still only 10 when his father became President and, as First Lady, Melania had to contemplate giving up the very private and independent existence she cherished in New York.

She famously insisted on staying in the Big Apple for almost the first five months of the presidency – with Trump alone in DC – so Barron could finish his school year.

Trump said he was sympathetic – claiming that his son found the idea of leaving his friends and his Manhattan comfort zone ‘a little scary’. That feeling cannot have been improved when, after anti-Trump protesters started picketing Trump Tower, Melania had the Secret Service take over doing the daily school run.

Melania continued to break with White House convention in not sending Barron to the Quaker school, Sidwell Friends, where previous presidential children including the Clintons, Bushes and Obamas had all been educated.

Instead, the Trumps plumped for Barron attending the $50,000-a-year St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in one of DC’s smartest suburbs in Potomac, Maryland.

Some Trump critics couldn’t resist taking it out on Barron, mocking his hair, clothes and towering height, which one wit compared to two kids inside a trench coat.

However, Barron soon found an early distraction from the pressures of First Child life in soccer. In 2017 he joined the Under-12 division of professional team DC United, playing in midfield and impressing players of the main team with his in-depth knowledge of the sport.

His other interests include sneakers – he has an impressive collection – and computers. In fact, his father claimed 2022 that Barron was rapidly able to break into his laptop when it locked him out during a conference that year.

So much younger than his siblings that he was effectively an only child, Barron gets on best with Tiffany, say insiders.

He soon became bilingual, learning to speak his mother’s native Slovenian so well that he could phone his grandmother – who died in January – and not have to resort to English during their conversations.

Melania’s parents, Viktor and the late Amalija Knavs (a former car dealer and textile worker respectively), moved from Slovenia to New York in 2017, before following their daughter to DC and later – after Trump left office – to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

They were very close to Barron and are said to have been ‘instrumental’ in his upbringing, an insider told People last year.

In March this year, the magazine confirmed what appeared to have long been obvious from his rare public appearances – that Barron shares his mother’s personality.

‘Barron is shy and reserved, and she has been a good mother to him all of these years,’ a source said.

As for his relationship with Donald, White House chronicler Michael Wolff controversially claimed in 2019 that Trump resented his son for becoming taller than him, adding: ‘His son is effectively not at all a part of his life.’

But Stephanie Grisham – who saw the family in an intimate setting – strongly disputes any perception of the father-son relationship as hostile or distant.

‘I saw Barron spend a lot of time with his father in the [White House] residence,’ she said. ‘I would see them joke around quite a bit.’

If he was a rare sighting during Trump’s presidency, Barron has been seen even less since he moved with his parents to Mar-a-Lago.

He is due to graduate this year from the nearby $41,500 Oxbridge Academy. The school was founded in 2011 by billionaire William Koch, brother to Republican super-donors Charles and David Koch (who last year deserted Trump to back his nomination rival Nikki Haley).

What’s next for Barron?

Insiders say he will be going to college but won’t speculate on where or other future plans.

‘Did you know when you were 17?’ asked a source. One confident prediction has been made however: wherever Barron goes next, his mother will want to move with him.

It was a night of high glamour – diamonds, couture dresses and A-listers – and should have been the usual spectacle of very rich, very beautiful and very talented artists congratulating each other on a good year for cinema.

Everyone expected that the Barbenheimer boost, which saw the box office soaring, would have a knock on effect and produce a vintage Oscars.

But with nudity, jokes about incest, political controversy and plain old bad taste, plus a hefty dollop of angst about wars, was this the night that the Oscars fumbled the ball?

There was instant outrage when Native American actress Lily Gladstone failed to win for her performance as Mollie Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon and even the climax of the night, the announcement of Best Picture, seemed to go awry.

Veteran actor Al Pacino, 83, seemed to struggle to stay on script in a short preamble, before opening his envelope and saying: ‘My eyes see Oppenheimer.’ That brought nervous giggles from some quarters of the auditorium.

It was Oppenheimer’s night with the film taking seven Oscars having been nominated for 13.

Conversely it was a bad night for Barbie, which had eight nominations but came away with just one award, for the song What Was I Made For, by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.

Despite a barnstorming performance of I’m Just Ken by Ryan Gosling, which saw many of the A-listers in the room joining in with the song, and despite its colossal financial success, it was largely shut out.

Was one Oscar Kenough reward for the biggest film of the year which was very clearly popular in the room?

It was an even worse night for Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s passion project about the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Maestro was nominated for seven Oscars and came away without a single one. Cooper was also beaten once again in the race for Best Actor, at the third time of asking.

Cooper also had to endure some bad-taste teasing from host Jimmy Kimmel about his habit of bringing his devoted mother Gloria as his date to awards.

Kimmel said: ‘Bradley brings his mother to every awards show. How any times can you bring your mom as your date before you are dating your mom? Are you working on a movie about Freud right now and not telling us?’

He is dating supermodel Gigi Hadid but the couple didn’t make any appearances together at pre-Oscars parties and opted not to go to the Vanity Fair party either.

There were some moments of delight, such as a cut away showing Messi the dog, a star of Anatomy of a Fall ‘clapping’, and some found John Cena’s naked sketch funny.

Actor and former wrestler Cena came on naked aside from a strategically placed gold envelope to announce the winner of the Costume Design Oscar.

The first Oppen-Oscar went to Robert Downey Jr., who won best supporting actor just as had been predicted and made a gracious, gag-filled speech.

He said: ‘I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and The Academy, in that order. I’d like to thank my — veterinarian — I meant wife, Susan Downey over there. She found me a snarling rescue pet and you loved me back to life. That’s why I’m here. Thank you.’

He went on: ‘Here’s my little secret. I needed this job more than it needed me. (Director) Chris (Nolan) knew it, (producer) Emma (Thomas) made sure that she surrounded me with one of the great casts and crews of all time, Emily, Cillian, it was fantastic.

‘And I stand here before you a better man because of it. What we do is meaningful, and the stuff that we decide to make is important.’

He shrugged off the outrage which greeted a drug gag seemingly improvised by host Kimmel after Downey Jr. touched his nose during his opening monologue. He had also looked unamused when Kimmel asked him: ‘Is that an acceptance speech in your pocket or do you just have a very rectangular penis?

Cillian Murphy became the first Irish-born winner of a Best Actor Oscar and won a standing ovation from the crowd which made him chuckle in delight. He said: ‘It’s been the wildest most exhilarating most creatively satisfying ride.’

Addressing director Chris Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas he said: ‘I owe you so much thank you. I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight.

‘You know we made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb for better or for worse. We are all living in Oppenheimer’s world so I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.’

Accepting an Oscar for directing, Nolan paid tribute to his cast and crew. He added: ‘Thank you do those who have been there for me and believed in me for my whole career, the incredible Emma Thomas, the producer of all our films and all our children, I love you.

‘To the Academy. Just to say movies are just over 100 years old. Imagine being there 100 years into theatre or painting and we don’t know where we are going to go, but to know that you think I am a meaningful part of it means the world to me.’

Cinematography went to Hoyte van Hoytema, previously nominated for Christopher Nolans film Dunkirk. From the stage van Hoytema said: ‘Woah, steady. To all the aspiring film makers out there I would like to say please try shooting that incredible hip new thing celluloid.. it makes things look so much better.’

Jennifer Lame won achievement in film editing for Oppenheimer. She said: ‘Emma Thomas you amaze me… Chris Nolan you are okay too. I was terrified when you first hired me but you instilled so much confidence in me.’

She later said: ‘So many people came to me and didn’t think the film was too long even though it was three hours. I have so many favorite scenes with Cillian. I was mesmerized by his performance. You wanted to know who he was even though he is inscrutable.’

Ludwig Goransson won best original score for Oppenheimer. He said that it had been Nolan’s idea to use a violin as the motif. He thanked his parents for giving him guitars and drum machines instead of video games.

The best picture Oscar was accepted by Nolan’s wife Emma Thomas. 

She said: ‘All of us who make movies know that you dream of this moment. I could deny it but I have been dreaming of this for so long and now it has happened. The reason that this is the movie that it is, is Chris Nolan he is singular and he is brilliant and I am so grateful to you.’

There were gasps in the room when Emma Stone’s name was read out as Best Actress for her fearless performance as Bella Baxter in Poor Things. It had been a neck and neck actress race between Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon and Emma Stone for Poor Things, but many felt that Gladstone was going to clinch the statuette.

Stone, who previously won for LaLa Land, said that she was overwhelmed and added that the zip on her dress had broken, adding: ‘I think it happened during “I’m Just Ken.”‘ 

She went on: ‘This is really overwhelming. Sorry. My voice has gone. 

‘The other night I was panicking as you can see it happens a lot and Yorgos said to me please take yourself out of it and he’s right its not about me its about a team that came together to make something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Yorgos thank you for the gift of a lifetime in Bella Baxter.’

The cerebral epic about the life of Robert J Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, didn’t have everything go its way.

Notably it lost out out on the sound Oscar to The Zone of Interest, a British film about the Holocaust in which the murders in Auschwitz are conveyed only as background noises.

It also lost out on Costume Design and Hair and Makeup to the Yorgos Lanthimos sex comedy Poor Things.

Some of the most surprising results saw Barbie lose out on production design and costume design. More predictably, Ryan Gosling was shut out in favor of Robert Downey Jr, and Oppenheimer won Best Picture.

Kimmel said in his opening monologue: ‘Here we are, all dressed up, celebrating the best of the best, beginning with the biggest movie of the year, Barbie. Barbie was a monster hit.

‘What a thing. What an achievement to take a plastic doll nobody even liked anymore, I mean, my wife, before this movie, you would had a better chance getting my wife to buy my daughter a pack of Marlboro Reds than a Barbie doll. 

‘Now Barbie is a feminist icon, thanks to Greta Gerwig, who many believed deserved to nominated for best director tonight.

‘Hold on a second. I know you’re clapping, but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her, by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with this.’

The hostilities in Gaza were on the minds of many on Sunday night, with some attendees having to walk the final few yards to the venue after pro-Palestinian protestors closed some roads. Pop star and actress Ariana Grande was among those to be held up. Singer Billie Eilish wore a pin supporting efforts to bring peace.

Accepting the Oscar for documentary feature film 20 Days in Mariupol, Mstylslav Chernov said that this was the first Academy Award in Ukrainian film history.

He said: ‘I will probably be the first director on the stage to say I wish I had never made this film. I wish to exchange this (Oscar) for Russia never invading Ukraine, never occupying our cities, to Russia not killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians.’ 

He went on: ‘I cannot change history, cannot change the past. We can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will never be forgotten.’

Animated short film was won by War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko. Their son Sean Ono Lennon was an executive producer on the film which follows two soldiers on opposite sides of a battle playing chess while communicating through carrier pigeon. 

Sean Ono Lennon flashed peace signs from the stage of the Dolby Theatre. He said: ‘My mom turned 91 last month and today is Mother’s Day in the UK, so can everyone please say happy mother’s day Yoko!’ 

Producer Dave Mullins said later: ‘We would like people to talk a little more, kill a little less, I know that sounds naïve.’

The first award of the night was presented to Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who won best actress in a supporting role for playing grieving mother Mary Lamb in The Holdovers. 

In an emotional speech she thanked God, her drama teacher, her mother and her publicist, adding: ‘I am so grateful for all the women who have been by my side.’

She added: ‘You know, I… I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career. I started off as a singer. And my mother said to me, “Go across that street to that theater department. There’s something for you there.”

‘And I thank my mother for doing that. I thank you to all the people who have stepped in my path and has been there for me, who has ushered me and guided me. 

‘I am so grateful to all of you beautiful people out there.

‘For so long I’ve always wanted to be different, and now I realize I just need to be myself. Ron Van Lieu, I thank you when I was the only black girl in that class, when you saw me and you told me I was enough. 

‘And when I told you I don’t see myself, you said, ‘That’s fine. We’re going to forge our own path. You’re going to lay a trail for yourself.’

The best original screenplay went to Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari. Triet said: ‘Thank you so much, it will help me through my mid life crisis I think. This is a crazy year. 

The glamour of tonight contrasts slightly with writing… I was stuck in the house with two kids it was lockdown. We hooked them up to cartoons to have peace.’ Harari added: ‘It was like mixed doubles ping pong played by neurotic French.’ 

Triet later said that they had wanted to have Dolly Parton’s song Jolene playing on repeat in the film but failed to get the rights so they ended up with the 50 Cent Song PIMP.

Best adapted screenplay was American Fiction – the first upset of the night, beating Barbie, Poor Things, Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest.

Writer Cord Jefferson used the platform to make the case for lower budget films. ‘Instead of making one $200 million movie try making twenty $10 million movies. 

‘I want other people to experience that joy. The next Scorsese is out there the next Greta (Gerwig) the next Christopher Nolan. 

‘This has changed my life thank you for trusting a 40 year old black guy who has never directed a movie before.’

Afterwards he said that it had been important to show diversity within diversity in the film, which is about a professor who writes a satire of a ‘black’ book only for the liberal elite to hail it as a masterpiece. 

He said: ‘As Victor Hugo said, nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. We didn’t have a big marketing budget so we relied on word of mouth a lot. 

‘Hopefully the lesson here is that there is an audience here for things that are different. 

‘A story with black characters that is going to appeal to a lot of people doesn’t need to take place in a plantation in the projects to have drug dealers in it.’

Another surprise was the win for animated film The Boy and The Heron over Spider-man: Across The Spiderverse.

Poor Things won Best Make Up and Hairstyling, again a surprise as many had thought that this was Maestro’s best chance to convert one of its nominations into a win.

Production design – which many thought might go to Barbie- went to Poor Things. Accepting the Oscar, James Price said: ‘This is crazy! I feel in the mood for love and custard tarts.’ 

Again, many thought that Barbie would win costume design, and again this went to Poor Things.

The Zone of Interest – about Rudolf Hess and his family living just outside Auschwitz, was Britain’s interest in the best international film category and won. 

Writer and director Jonathan Glazer said: ‘All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say look what they did then, but rather look what we do now.’ Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. 

‘It’s shaped all of our past and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.’

‘Whether the victims of October — whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?’ 

Leading actress Sandra Huller cried copiously as he spoke.

Visual effects went to Oscar Godzilla Minus One. Documentary short film was won by The Last Repair Shop.

Tom Brady is trying to ‘find the good’ in his ex-wife Gisele Bundchen’s new boyfriend, Joaquim Valente, according to insiders, who claim he’s adjusting to the new dynamic – but isn’t quite friends with the handsome Brazilian yet.

Gisele, 43, seemingly confirmed her long-rumored romance with the jiu-jitsu instructor last week after they were spotted sharing a passionate kiss during a Valentine’s Day date in Miami.

It was claimed they started dating in June, but the relationship timeline has reportedly raised questions for Tom, who reportedly believes they have been together longer.

“Tom has been dating and wants to grow his relationship with Gisele and move to a place where they can grow older together,” a source told DailyMail.com exclusively.

‘If she wants people to think she’s only been dating Joaquim since June then so be it, but they’ve been together longer and they’re not taking it easy. Tom accepted it.’

According to the source, Tom has no issues with Joaquim, who was first photographed vacationing in Costa Rica with Gisele in November 2022, just two weeks after her divorce was finalized.

“Tom and Joaquim are not friends, but Joaquim is close to his children, so Tom has to find the good in him and believes he is a good guy,” the source continued.

“If Joaquim ever becomes a father figure to his children, Tom will be able to adapt.”

The sportsman is no stranger to co-parenting, having dated Gisele in late 2006, around the time he split from Bridget Moynahan, with whom he has son John, 16.

“People seem to forget that Tom has had a lot of practice with this since his days with Bridget,” they said. “They had a kid, they moved on and discovered it.

‘He and Gisele are doing well and if Joaquim is going to stay in her life forever then he will make sure it all works out for the better of everyone, there is no other option.’

Tom and Gisele married in 2009 and share son Benjamin, 14, and daughter Vivian, 11. They divorced in October 2022, and Tom dated model Irina Shayk.

Earlier this week it was claimed that Gisele and Joaquim, who have yet to confirm they are an item, started dating in June 2023.

However, multiple sources close to Tom suggested he is not convinced by the timeline of events, with one claiming the Brazilian supermodel has been dating Joaquim since June 2021.

Another said: ‘They started off as friends. He was a huge comfort to Gisele during her divorce. Their friendship turned romantic after the divorce.”

In raunchy video footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com last week, Gisele was seen hugging her new man on the street as they strolled through the posh area where she lives.

They reached what appeared to be Joaquim’s car, whereupon the handsome martial arts teacher put an arm around Gisele, who was holding her dog’s leash.

The model responded by draping herself around his neck as she leaned in to exchange several kisses before parting ways.

Rumors of a relationship first started circulating when Joaquim was pictured on holiday with Gisele and her children just two weeks after her split from Tom. They have also enjoyed trips together to their native Brazil.

Page Six was the first to report that the pair were an item, after sharing photos from a night out in November 2022 and labeling Joaquim as her “new man.”

But insiders have continually tried to suppress the ‘love talk’, with the model herself deflecting when asked about the alleged romance during an interview with Vanity Fair last March.

“I think at this point, unfortunately, because I’m divorced, I’m sure they’re going to try to tie me down to whatever,” she told the publication of the rumors.

She then praised Joaquim and his brothers Pedro and Gui, who run the Valente Brothers Jiu-Jitsu studio where Gisele’s children attend.

Gisele continued, “I am so grateful to know them all because not only have they helped me and my children, but they have also become good friends, and Joaquim in particular.

“He is our teacher and, most importantly, he is a person I admire and trust. It’s so good to have that kind of energy, to have my kids around that kind of energy.”

As the February sun shines down on all of baseball and the rankings show everyone is undefeated, it’s easy to melt into a zen state of spring training nirvana. But there is one question in our annual spring survey that brings us back to life. That’s the part where we ask our voters – a panel of 31 executives, former executives, coaches and scouts – which teams, front offices and managers are feeling the most pressure. As always, they had some thoughts!

BRIAN CASHMAN, AARON BOONE AND THE YANKEES (16 VOTES): Does it sometimes feel like Brian Cashman has been the Yankees general manager since the days of Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford? In reality it has only been 26 years. But in the final fourteen, the Yankees forgot to do the one thing they’ve done more than any franchise ever: win the World Series. So if this vote reveals anything, it’s that Cashman and his manager, Aaron Boone, may want to reroute the path to the Canyon of Heroes because their job security could depend on it. … “I love Cash,” said a National League executive. “He’s been there longer than anyone else. But that team will have to make a statement.”

OLIVER MARMOL AND THE CARDINALS (12 VOTES): The good news for the Cardinals: Our voters had mostly good things to say about an offseason that saw them add Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson to their rotation – and add depth to their bullpen with Andrew Kittredge and Keynan Middleton. … The bad news for the Cardinals: Their entire rotation could be 33 or older — and we heard a lot of concerns about their manager, Oli Marmol, and his ability to navigate the storms of this ship. … “They would be at the top of my list of teams most likely to make a change (of managers),” said a rival NL manager. “I would just say this: Don’t sleep on the job Yadi (Molina) did as manager (Puerto Rico) in the Caribbean Series.”

AJ PRELLER/FRONT OFFICE ADDRESS (10 VOTES): Last year, a rival executive on this same turf made a bold prediction: If the Padres don’t win their division, in a season when the Dodgers were in such obvious reshuffling mode, “it’s going to be an exciting time. ” Well… maybe not. The Padres increased the payroll to $255 million, replenished the lineup and still played 18 games behind the Dodgers. But even after that debris settled, Preller’s head hadn’t rolled anywhere. But now the stakes seem even higher. The Padres missed that window to take on the Dodgers… beloved owner Peter Seidler lost his battle with cancer… they cut payroll by almost $100 million… and Juan Soto is 2,500 miles from the Gaslamp Quarter. So our voters sent a message that it’s time for Preller to get very nervous. … “They spent all that money,” said an American League executive. “And what do they have to show for it?”

GO DEEPER

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Four other teams are feeling the heat

Busy? Dave Roberts looks calm, cool and collected this spring. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today)

They didn’t make it into the medal standings. But these four teams also caught the attention of some voters.

DAVE ROBERTS/DODGERS (FIVE VOICES): When your team spends over a billion dollars on free agents, so does the manager to have to win? Five voters highly recommend that for Dave Roberts in Chavez Ravine. One voter’s opinion:

“They have to get to the World Series or they can make a change.”

FARHAN ZAIDI/GIANS (FOUR VOICES): Are the Giants starting to feel like your fisherman buddy who can’t stop telling you about the size of all the big fish he catches? it didn’t roll in? It seems like it sometimes, every time another standout wriggles out of their net.

So there were obvious questions about whether this team’s lack of star power could catch up with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.

PERRY MINASIAN/ENGLISH (FOUR VOICES): It’s hard to see how it’s fair to pin the Angels’ problems on their GM, Perry Minasian, given all the dysfunction emanating from the owner’s box. But four voters thought Minasian could pay the price after all.

JOHN SCHNEIDER/BLUE JAYS LEADERSHIP (FOUR VOICES): And finally, there are the Blue Jays. The good news is that they have made the playoffs two years in a row under their extremely likable manager, John Schneider. The bad news is that they have been dismissed twice without winning a game.

The good news is that they pursued both Shohei Ohtani and Soto this past winter. The bad news is that their entire offseason has turned into a huge swing-and-miss.

So the pressure is real. And our voters were split on who squirmed more: Schneider or this front office. But if a frustrating winter leads to a frustrating summer, we might find out.

GO DEEPER

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(Photo of Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman: William Perlman/Newsday RM via Getty Images)