The San Diego Padres are coming off a narrow 2-1 win over the Miami Marlins on Monday night. The Marlins are a scrappy team, and the Padres' pitching staff was able to keep them from scoring more than one run. However, the offense struggled all night, and there have been rumors about upgrading this lineup for the last few weeks.

The Padres are 55-45 and sit in the final Wild Card spot in the National League. With the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets next on the schedule, this is the time for the Friars to make a series push in the playoff picture. Adding more talent should be their top priority. The Padres could do just that, and MLB insider Jeff Passan believes the Padres' front office could have a buy/sell tactic.

The Padres have talent on the team who will become free agents at season's end: Luis Arraez, Dylan Cease, Michael King (mutual option), Jose Iglesias, and Elias Diaz. Those players could be traded ahead of the deadline as part of the buy/sell tactic. It will be very tough for the Padres to keep Dylan Cease after this season.

Padres' beat writer Dennis Lin added in his story that second baseman Jake Cronenworth's name has surfaced in trade rumors with interest. Cronenworth has been a valuable asset to the Padres since his arrival, and seeing his name in trade rumors is certainly a surprise.

The 2x All-Star can play elite defense at multiple positions and is an above-average hitter at the bottom of the lineup. There are some teams who could benefit from adding Cronenworth to their infield, but general manager A.J. Preller would have to be blown away to deal away the fan favorite and defensive wizard.

The lefty missed some time with a rib fracture this season but is batting .243 in 239 at-bats. His OPS is .757, and he has smashed eight homers and 31 RBIs this season. His numbers aren't eye-opening, but he is having a better offensive season than in years past.

Grab your popcorn, because this next week and a half will be exciting for baseball.

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