What should the Padres address before the Trade Deadline?

This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell’s Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MIAMI -- One week ‘til the Trade Deadline, and the Padres have work to do. Here are five thoughts on what could be a busy week ahead:

1) Multiple bats are needed

The Padres clearly need to upgrade their offense, but they have this much going for them: Their needs aren’t specific. They just need bats. Multiple bats. Anywhere they can find them.

Gavin Sheets has emerged as a reliable enough left fielder. (Yes, the Padres would prefer to add in left, but Sheets’ presence at least gives them cover.) Behind the plate, the team has touted the importance of Martín Maldonado and Elias Díaz in run prevention.

Neither situation is perfect. But both seem to be viewed as adequate at the very least. Which means the Padres can approach the Deadline with the idea that their biggest needs are a DH and a pinch-hitter. Or, in other words, just two bats, regardless of position. If they end up adding a catcher and a left fielder, even better. But the Padres can cast a wider net than that in their search.

2. Waiting has already cost the Padres

Trailing by three runs, the Padres stormed back in the ninth inning on Tuesday night. They put two men aboard, then Jackson Merrill doubled them home with nobody out. The comeback was on. And then, the Padres’ bottom three hitters -- including Trenton Brooks as a pinch-hitter for Maldonado -- made three quick outs.

No team has gotten a lower OPS from its bottom three hitters this season. To be clear, Jake Cronenworth has been perfectly fine at No. 7. It’s the No. 8 and 9 spots which have become glaring weaknesses in the lineup. Against a tough righty reliever in Ronny Henriquez, the Padres need to have better options that Jose Iglesias and Brooks.

This wasn’t the first time the Padres have been undone late in a game by their lack of depth on offense. But it was especially glaring with the backdrop of the Trade Deadline. If the Padres had the two bats they’ve been looking for, their chances of winning that game would’ve increased by a not-insignificant margin. But …

3. There’s a reason the market has moved slowly

A pretty simple one, in fact. It takes two teams to make a trade. And the landscape of the sport for the past month has been all about the volume of teams in contention. Entering play Wednesday, 22 of 30 teams were within 5 1/2 games of a playoff spot -- and a few of the teams on the outside looking in haven’t quite declared themselves sellers.

If the Padres were going to add a bat in the early stages of the season, they were probably going to have to overpay to do so. Bats were scarce. But now that it’s decision time -- and the field of contenders seems to be separating just a bit -- I suspect those bats might become a bit less scarce.

“We have a good feel for our team and where some of the holes may be and some of the areas we can try to supplement,” Padres general manager A.J. Preller said recently. “But it's hard to make moves.”

4) A fifth horseman?

The Padres’ bullpen has been one of the best in baseball. Their quartet of Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam and Robert Suarez -- dubbed “the Four Horsemen” by manager Mike Shildt -- has been lights out.

But asked to assess his Deadline strategy earlier this month, Preller told MLB Network Radio: “We’ve got a lot of different weapons in the ‘pen. You could add to a strength.”

Indeed, no bullpen is ever too deep come October. Preller has lived that philosophy before. Within the last three Trade Deadlines, he has added Josh Hader, Tanner Scott and Adam to already-strong bullpens.

Plus, while there are obviously bigger concerns than, “Who’s your fifth most trustworthy reliever?” it’s at least a question the Padres should be asking.

5. Buying and selling?

One issue the Padres face is the salary they’ll be taking on in any deal. They’d prefer to limit that number -- which leaves open the possibility they’d look to trade from their current big league roster in addition to adding to it.

But where? That’s trickier than it seems. Dylan Cease, Luis Arraez and Suarez are all in their final seasons before free agency, making at least $10 million. But they all play important roles on the current team -- and, with Cease and Arraez at least, the Padres would be selling low on two obviously talented players.

Cronenworth is a relatively high earner, but also plays an integral role. In the bullpen, the Padres couldn’t move off of Wandy Peralta and/or Yuki Matsui without also giving up prospect capital to do so. And the Padres’ prospect capital -- compared to past Deadlines -- isn’t as strong as it has been.

All of this illustrates the tricky nature of this year’s Deadline for Preller and the Padres. They need to make additions, but they don’t have much wiggle room to do so.

This is a roster with a World Series-caliber ceiling. How does it reach that ceiling? The next week will have to go a long way.