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The San Diego Padres may be the most interesting team to watch before the deadline.

While they could easily jump from last place to second in the NL West, they're not catching up to the Los Angeles Dodgers. That makes buying an unlikely outcome, but they don't necessarily need to sell either. Given the strong emergences of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Chris Paddack—and another crop of prospects led by the recently recalled Luis Urias and Adrian Morejon on the horizon—they could instead make a move with 2020 contention in mind.

Whichever path they choose, they shouldn't trade Hunter Renfroe or Franmil Reyes just to clear a starting spot for Wil Myers.

Per ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Friars have attempted to move both outfielders "for the better part of a year now."

Trading Renfroe would have made sense last summer, when he looked like a relatively replaceable source of power who derived most of his strength against lefties. This season, however, he has clubbed 19 of 28 home runs against righties. His .341 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) ranks fifth behind those of Christian Yelich, Mike Trout, Cody Bellinger and Pete Alonso.

He's also playing better defense, generating a career-high 12 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) after offering six in the previous two seasons combined. Although still not someone who will reach base with much regularity, he's now essentially Khris Davis—after all, he's hitting .247—with a better glove.

In his first full season, the 24-year-old Reyes has already registered 26 home runs. Per Statcast data courtesy of Baseball Savant, his .378 expected weighted on-base average (wOBA) exceeds those of Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant and Alex Bregman.

That's not to say both sluggers must be untouchable. The circumstances would change, for instance, if the Padres could use one as leverage to land a front-line starting pitcher under contract beyond 2019 a la Trevor Bauer or Marcus Stroman.

Yet it would be a mistake to move Renfroe or Reyes simply to get Myers into the lineup. He's easily the highest-paid of the trio, but the 28-year-old is also hitting .216 with 0.1 WAR and an abhorrent 36.0 strikeout percentage.

Salaries aside, Renfroe and Reyes are more crucial to San Diego's bright future.