Should the Padres be buyers or sellers this trade deadline?

With the Padres currently sitting seven games back in the NL West behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, it's becoming clear their playoff hopes will have to be tied to a Wild Card spot. San Diego holds the second spot out of three, one-and-a-half games above the Chicago Cubs.

That puts the 32-31 franchise in a tedious predicament inching toward the July 30 trade deadline. Here are a few reasons why they should be buyers or sellers later this summer.

Reasons to buy

The current roster still shares a lot of similarities to the one that went to the National League Championship Series just two years ago. During that run, San Diego won as underdogs against the New York Mets and Dodgers, which shows some experience being successful as a Wild Card team.

The Padres have also shown a lot of effort to keep a competitive team out on the field despite their commitment to shedding payroll. That statement is proven by the fact that the front office went out and acquired SP Dylan Cease and 2B Luis Arraez in early season trades.

San Diego also has the ability to acquire high-level talent because of a strong farm system with four top-100 prospects (per MLB.com), headlined by No. 5 MLB prospect C Ethan Salas. There are not a lot of players in the MLB who couldn't be acquired using the Padres deep pocket of young talented players.

However, this scenario only happens if the Padres are still in the hunt for a Wild Card spot.

Reasons to sell

Obviously, if the wheels fall off and the playoffs are nothing but a miracle by the end of July, don't be surprised if San Diego looks to retool for the immediate future. There are a number of players whose futures have big question marks in terms of their roles on the team.

The most notable of those would be Ha-Seong Kim. In 2023, Kim had his breakout season, posting a 4.3 WAR which ranked fifth best in MLB for all second basemen (per FanGraphs). With Kim and the Padres having a mutual option next season, it could make sense to trade him now with the infield becoming increasingly crowded.

There's also Jake Cronenworth, who was mentioned in trade talks last offseason, per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. That came after a down year for Cronenworth in which he finished with a .689 OPS and 10 home runs in 458 at-bats. Now in 2024, his performance has improved at eight home runs and a .760 OPS in 229 at-bats.

If the Padres wanted, they certainly has the tools to bolster an already impressive farm system.