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The battle to crown the winner of the NL West this season will be one of most exciting things to watch for the remainder of the year. The Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres all have an excellent shot of winning the division.
San Diego in particular, has been encouraged by Bleacher Report's Tim Kelly to go out and trade for an outfielder and starting pitcher prior to the trade deadline. Kelly believes that those two moves could be what ultimately moves the needle to propel the Padres to the top of the division.
"Still, it might make sense to add another arm capable of making a postseason start," Kelly wrote. "Ideally, it would be someone who isn't a rental since King and Cease can both become free agents after this season."
The return of Yu Darvish to the Padres rotation is still looming and it is entirely possible that general manager AJ Preller decides no move is needed to upgrade the rotation.
That's really not the way Preller works, though, and it is much more likely he goes out and tries to make a big-time move and add to the San Diego pitching staff.
Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Mitch Keller are all names that make sense, and the Padres should be able to put together a package to acquire one of those three.
"Whether they'll be able to beat out the Dodgers for the NL West title or not, the Padres have a chance to make noise in the playoffs," Kelly wrote. "San Diego could win (its) first World Series title if (the Padres) hit on adding an outfielder and another front-line starter."
The outfield addition may not be as important, as the Padres rank sixth in Wins Above Average from their outfielders. Outside of Luis Robert, it is unclear as to which outfielders will be available on the trade market when the deadline comes around.
It feels that the addition of a starting pitcher to help shut down the high-powered offenses in the National league may be more of what San Diego should focus on headed toward the trade deadline and summer months.
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About the writer
Andrew Wright is a Newsweek contributor based in Lancaster, South Carolina. His focus is MLB content. Andrew has been with ... Read more