San Diego Padres: Reasons to buy, or sell, at the MLB trade deadline

SELLERS

Why sellers? A lot of reasons actually. Even though the team is still technically in the playoff hunt, the reason to sell has been discussed only as far as the players involved.

For instance, we could sell to shed the contracts of players who are set to become free agents, such as Stammen; or we could sell to rid ourselves of bad contracts, such as that of Wil Myers.

Mainly, we can sell to acquire a front-of-the-rotation arm that the front office seems hell-bent on getting, or to help ease the soon-to-be 40-man roster crunch that will present its own set of problems in the off-season.

Those are all good and logical reasons to do so — but is that the best thing to do at this point? Possibly. This front office makes very strategic moves for the short and long-term interest of the team.

Now that the Friars have called up both Luis Urias and Adrian Morejon, that helps a little regarding the 40-man roster; Morejon was going to need to be protected during the winter anyhow.

The corresponding moves that will be made to add each of them to the 25-man roster should provide a glimpse into what direction the front office might be leaning. It’ll be fun to see what the 40-man move will be to add Morejon, too.

Furthermore, if you’ve followed recent team news, there will soon be another move made to add Michel Baez to the team, as has been reported by multiple outlets who cover the franchise.

Could all of this shuffling around be the catalyst that leads the team to sell? The next 10 days will surely answer that question.

Or, could these transactions be leading the Friars to be buyers?

BUYERS

We all know the names in discussion if we do in fact decide to buy. Noah Syndergaard, Trevor Bauer, Marcus Stroman, Luis Castillo, and Matthew Boyd have all been written or talked about as potential targets.

If we decide that buying now is the proper action to take, it’s almost a guarantee that it’ll be for a top-of-the-rotation starter with some sort of team control. The aforementioned names all come with some of that control to one degree or another.

But who will it be? It’ll all come down to who the Padres are willing to sell when it comes to buying.

Are the promotions of Urias and Morejon only to give them exposure at the big-league level for a deal before the deadline? That’s a distinct possibility. However, that’s not what this writer thinks.

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It’s my belief that they’ll finally sell some of the their prospect capital to acquire the “Ace” and innings-eater this team so desperately needs.

They could part with some players now on the active roster as well, but that seems somewhat counter-productive.

You never know this time of year, especially with this front office and ownership group. Like it’s been mentioned before, this isn’t the ghost of front office pasts.

A week ago, you could have made a strong point that buying is the only option — but not after the disaster that this team has become since the break.

With the three biggest weaknesses on the offensive end — second base, catcher, and center field — seemingly shaking their way out over the last few weeks, there’s not a real reason to upgrade those positions right now.

The call-up of Urias and giving him the keys to the car at second, the recent play of Francisco Mejía at catcher, and the much improved play from Manuel Margot have all given the Friar Faithful something to look forward to at those positions.

So that leaves only one place to upgrade; the starting rotation.

The Padres need someone who can lead the young staff, eat innings, and be the unquestionable No. 1 starter for the rest of this year and 2020 onward. It is, and has been, the biggest need since this past Hot Stove season.

With the days and hours dwindling just like the Padres playoff chances, which direction do you believe they will go, Friar Family? Sellers or buyers?

Let us know in the comments below on how you would play G.M.

For complete coverage of the San Diego Padres 2019 season, continue following Friars on Base all season long.