Buy or sell? What each team in the NL Wild Card standings should do at the trade deadline

While the AL playoff picture is quite muddy, the National League's is much clearer. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers are in command of their divisions while the Atlanta Braves, despite some recent stumbles, are 2.5 games clear of the Philadelphia Phillies entering play on July 2.

The Wild Card contenders are also much stronger in the NL, where all three spots are currently held by teams at least five games above .500. That is certainly not the case in the AL, where Seattle entered July hovering a game above .500 for that league's final Wild Card spot.

As we did for the AL, we will go down the line of NL Wild Card contenders and answer a very important question: Should they buy, sell or hold ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline?

Chicago Cubs: Aggressively buy

With most of their position player group locked up long-term, the Cubs know they need to add to make a push at making up their five game deficit to the Brewers in the NL Central. Injuries have decimated the starting rotation, forcing Chicago to make an early buy to try and resuscitate David Peterson's career.

Peterson stands to benefit from improved defense behind him, but that can't be the only add the Cubs make for their rotation. There is no reason that the Cubs don't walk away from this deadline with one of the top potential starters on the board, a group that includes Tarik Skubal, Freddy Peralta and Joe Ryan, to compete for a title.

Philadelphia Phillies: Buy

Interim manager Don Mattingly has worked wonders for the Phillies, turning a team that started 9-19 into a clear postseason side with a shot to catch slumping Atlanta in the NL East. Philadelphia's core is aging and expensive, however, meaning Dave Dombrowski is likely pot committed to trying to snag a title before Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber's primes end.

A depth starter would be helpful, especially given Aaron Nola's struggles this season, but Philadelphia really needs a center fielder. Don't be surprised if Dombrowski tries to make a run at re-acquiring Harrison Bader, who provided a huge spark at the deadline last year, allowing rookie Justin Crawford to slide to right.

Miami Marlins: Buy

The conversation around Miami has completely changed thanks to their absurd 20-6 June, which puts them right behind the Phillies in the NL East as a dark horse contender. There had been talk the Marlins could sell Sandy Alcantara if things didn't go according to plan, but a run of play this strong merits positive reinforcement from the front office.

Finding a closing option could be helpful with Pete Fairbanks underwhelming and rotation depth is always a good idea. A sneaky strong move would be to add another true slugger to the middle of the lineup as a power threat, which could take Miami's lineup to the next level.

St. Louis Cardinals: Hold

The fact that the Cardinals are in this conversation is very impressive considering they basically decided to reload ahead of the season. Moving on from multiple key players from last season's lineup, including Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan, instead created a lane for a youth movement that has played above its heads thus far.

A -6 run differential entering July, however, indicates that this group may be a bit over its skis. The smart play for now is to hold and see where they are at the end of the month with a sustained level of play leading to modest buying that won't jeopardize Chaim Bloom's long-term vision for the roster.

Washington Nationals: Sell

Much like the Cardinals, Washington is ahead of schedule and hanging around the Wild Card race. James Wood is a true star and CJ Abrams appears to have leveled up offensively, headlining a lineup that has scored the most runs in the league, but their pitching staff has been quite bad, yielding 453 runs in 88 games.

The cost to fortify the pitching staff to the degree necessary to emerge from this wild card race is simply too prohibitive to warrant buying at this stage of the rebuild. Shipping out rentals makes sense, but don't rule out an Abrams move if somebody wants to overpay for the club control that he still has.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Hold

There hasn't been enough consistent play from the Diamondbacks to warrant buying, but they aren't exactly loaded with enticing candidates to sell either. Zac Gallen has been a disaster after accepting the qualifying offer and there isn't a lot of ballast offensively to warrant an addition.

The smart play would be to hold and see what things look like if Corbin Burnes is able to make it back late in the second half from Tommy John surgery. Either way, Arizona's slim odds of getting into the mix here make buying an illogical choice.

San Diego Padres: Hold

To be clear, holding is what the Padres should do. Given the stark drop offs from veterans like Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts along with Fernando Tatis Jr's surprising power outage, adding to this group would be rather foolish.

There isn't much of value to sell here aside from Michael King, who could net a haul in the controllable pitching market, but A.J. Preller is likely pot committed to this group and has never turned down a chance to add a star to his roster. Who that star is remains to be seen, but don't be surprised if you hear San Diego linked to Skubal if he is made available.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Buy

Even though the Pirates entered July under .500, their run differential is +20, an indicator this team is a bit better than it has performed. Paul Skenes has been in an uncharacteristic slump, pitching to an ERA over 3.50 in June, but his strong track record indicates a turnaround should be coming.

The offense has taken a big hit when Oneil Cruz went on the injured list, leaving them a bit short in the power department. Finding a slugger to replace slumping Marcell Ozuna as the DH could prove to be quite useful to take advantage of their pitching staff and climb back into the race.

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