3 moves the San Diego Padres must make before the MLB trade deadline

Welcome to the second half of the 2023 Major League Baseball season. The San Diego Padres must get off the roller-coaster ride that best describes their first-half play. They took one step forward, then two steps back, with no consistency.

Entering Monday, the Padres sit in fourth place with a 44-50 record and 10 games off the pace in the chase for the National League West division crown. In the hunt for the final Wild Card berth, the Friars are 8.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants.

The Padres offense needs to catch on fire, as the starting pitching has kept them afloat in the standings. But they also need the Los Angeles Dodgers to stumble coming out of the second half starting gate. Amazingly, they remain on top of the NL West despite the injuries sustained by their starting rotation. Also, the Friars need the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants to come back to earth in the standings.

With less than 68 games to go, here are three moves the Padres must make before the trade deadline:

San Diego Padres must DFA Matt Carpenter

The first half of the 2023 season was not kind to Matt Carpenter. He has struggled at the plate with a dismal .173 batting average in 191 plate appearances. The veteran is drawing walks (15.2% ratio), but Carpenter is not making consistent contact (30.4% strikeout ratio) with runners in scoring position. The lack of production is why Padres manager Bob Melvin has benched him in favor of Rougned Odor as the left-handed designated hitter.

The Padres need better production from the DH position, especially if they expect to get back into postseason contention. The free-agent signing of Carpenter was supposed to provide a spark to the lower third of the batting order. The move has failed to generate any production thus far. If the Friars trade for a left-handed hitter at the deadline, the odds are high that the front office will remove Carpenter from the roster.

San Diego Padres need to add Joe Kelly to the bullpen

The Padres do not possess a lights-out bullpen this season, but they will need one to make up ground in their chase for a postseason berth. The Friars leaned too heavily on the bullpen in the first half. The numbers do not lie, as the pen’s ERA has progressively increased each month. Collectively, the unit ended July with a 6.47 ERA.

Josh Hader is a premier closer, but the Padres must add a quality setup reliever at the trade deadline. Joe Kelly is the right target, as the Chicago White Sox are looking to sell expensive pieces off their roster. In two seasons with the Sox, Kelly has a 5.54 ERA. It is two runs more than his career ERA (3.94).

Kelly is the perfect addition for the Friars, as they’re desperately seeking a reliever with pitching experience in big games. He is a two-time World Series champion who cherishes pitching with the game on the line. Kelly and Hader would be a lethal duo in October.

The next stops (Toronto and Detroit) on the current three-city road trip are going to set the course for the Padres at the trade deadline. The upcoming six games will be an audition on whether the team is a contender or a pretender for the 2023 season. If the Friars are playing competitive baseball, Preller will seek to improve the roster.