The Padres are 48-48 at the break. They are in third place in the NL West and out of contention, trailing the Dodgers by 12.5 games. However, in the NL Wild Card race, they are trailing Arizona by 1 game, the Pirates by 1.5 games, and the Cardinals by 2.5 games. None of those teams are Wild Card teams today, July 15. Of the teams that would be Wild Card teams today, the Padres trail the Marlins by just 3.5 games, the Phillies by 5.5, and the Cubs by 6.0.
The Padres are truly in the great undecided world of should we buy or should we sell? Or, should we do a combination of the two? The one thing you can be pretty assured of is that with the masterful A.J. Preller (President of Baseball Operations & GM) at the helm, something interesting will happen.
Since I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to prospects (I know I’m selling myself short in that my claims of ignorance should not be confined to just prospects), what is most intriguing is that Preller could deal Mason Miller, who is a game changer or, more appropriately, a game saver for any team heading to the postseason. While the Padres have a good young catcher in their system, Ethan Salas (I looked him up), if they are buying, the idea of dealing Miller sets my head spinning with the raft of prospects that Preller could add for future deals, or actually use. He leads the NL with 25 saves, and even if the Red Sox were sellers and dealing Aroldis Chapman, Miller would still be the prize package for a team in search of a closer.
In addition, according to our friends at MLBTraderumors.com, “If the club does decide to sell, there would be some obvious candidates. Adrián Morejón, Jason Adam, Miguel Andujar, Lucas Giolito, Griffin Canning, Germán Márquez, Walker Buehler, Ty France and Luis Rengifo are all impending free agents. They should all be available, though most won’t have much trade value due to injuries or underperformance, aside from Morejón.”
Heading to the Deadline, the Padres visit the Royals for three, the Braves for four, and the Marlins for three. They return home to face the Rockies for two and the Giants for four. That’s 16 games, with nine of them against teams that are below .500 and will be staying there.
Should the Padres sell or should they buy? This clash of opinions on this question won’t be determined until August 3.
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