The Baltimore Orioles are facing a predicament this trade deadline. They are just close enough in the American League wild card race to convince themselves they have a shot, but they’re just far enough out to convince themselves it might be a wise idea to sell.

The prevailing idea is that the Orioles will pursue an outfield bat this trade deadline, but they would be wrong to do so. Instead, they should trade some of their own talent away to avoid a potential disaster in the near future.

Baltimore has nine players who will be free agents after the season. Those players include:

1B Chris Davis

SP Wei-Yen Chen

SP Bud Norris

C Matt Wieters

RP Darren O’Day

SP Tommy Hunter

DH Steven Pierce

RP Brian Matusz

LF Nolan Reimold

With all those players becoming free agents this offseason, the team has the chance to have a considerable amount of roster turnover in 2016. It also means the team has a chance to get prospects this deadline, rather than trade their own away.

Essentially, the Orioles will be contending for a wild card spot this season. If they get that, which is a long shot at this point, they still have to win a one-game playoff, likely on the road. It’s not worth trading prospects away for an outfielder with the odds stacked squarely against them to begin with.

Rather, the team needs to acquire more team-controlled talent in order to prevent the potential roster turnover from crippling them this offseason. Especially in the cases of Davis, Wieters and O’Day, there is a market for their free-agents-to-be.

It’s hard to admit that the playoffs are a long shot when you’re not completely out of contention, but that’s what the Orioles have to do this deadline. Getting realistic will save them in the future.

If the team decides to trade for more players who will become free agents this offseason, while giving up team-controlled players of their own, the consequences might prevent them from competing for several years to come.