3 San Diego Padres prospects who should not be traded and 2 who should

2) Padres prospect Jackson Merrill should be traded

As much as I love Ethan Salas, he's not even the top-ranked prospect in the Padres system. Jackson Merrill is, and he's also ranked number 10 on MLB.com's top 100 list. He looks like the real deal.

Merrill is a 20-year-old who just made his Double-A debut. Prior to that, he was swinging a solid bat for High-A Fort Wayne, slashing .280/.318/.444 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI. He also stole 10 bases and was a sound defender at shortstop.

The question I have with Merrill is where will he play? The Padres have the left side of their infield locked up for many years to come with Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado. Will he play second base? Or the outfield?

Elite shortstop prospects like Merrill can net you a boatload in a trade. The Mariners got Luis Castillo out of it trading two shortstop prospects. If the Padres goal is to win now, Merrill is expendable with no place to play and being big league ready possibly next season.

It wouldn't be fun to watch this guy rake in another team's jersey, but it would all be worth it if the Padres could win it all.