Crack surrounding door striker

Noticed a crack surrounding my passenger side door striker. Driver side has already had a crack welded up by a previous owner. I know what the correct fix is, but I'm not prepared to cut out my pillar and weld in a new section at the moment.

I'm curious what others have done, because this seems to be a very common problem. I'm tempted to try and weld the crack, but I only have a 220 flux welder and am afraid of blowing holes in the sheet metal.

I've considered reinforcing it with a plate on the outside of the pillar. I could plug weld it in a few spots without worrying about blowing through.

Any ideas would be appreciated.