'Buzzards circling:' Teams reportedly scouting Twins as deadline sellers

The Twins could have some tough decisions to make if they don't pick up their play this month.

Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey | FOX 9

Multiple prominent ballclubs have started scouting the Twins as potential sellers prior to the July 31 MLB trade deadline, according to The Athletic's Dan Hayes.

Metaphorical buzzards are beginning to circle around the Twins, he wrote in a recent story:

"With 24 days left until the deadline, the buzzards already are circling in hopes of picking off a healthy limb or two from a team that entered the season with postseason aspirations. Over the last week, three scouts from prominent clubs expected to be buyers at the deadline started in-person evaluations of the team’s roster, including one who was specifically pulled off another assignment to follow the Twins. More scouts are surely on the way. Even though team president Derek Falvey said on June 23 that selling was 'not his focus,' one rival evaluator opined the Twins must have privately acknowledged they’d be open to selling in order for opponents to start heavily scouting the roster."

As of Tuesday afternoon, with six games remaining until the All-Star break, the Twins were 43-47 and five games back of a playoff spot. FanGraphs estimates their playoff odds to be less than 20 percent. This is a Twins team that has gone 9-20 since June 4 and has played at 69-win pace since the middle of last August, even with a 13-game winning streak mixed in. Unless they turn things around over the final few weeks of July, selling could make a lot of sense.

As far as specific potential trade candidates go, there are a wide range of players who other teams could be interested in. Despite the constant speculation, Byron Buxton has a no-trade clause and almost certainly isn't going anywhere. Other big names like Carlos Correa, Pablo Lopez, and Joe Ryan are also presumably off the table. Correa has struggled quite a bit at the plate this season and is on a big contract, so it wouldn't make much sense for the Twins to sell while his value is low.

More realistically, the Twins could try to get some sort of return — though it wouldn't be huge — for pending free agents like Chris Paddack, Willi Castro, and Danny Coulombe. Harrison Bader, who has a mutual option for 2026 in his contract, could also be in that group. If president of baseball operations Derek Falvey wanted to seek a bigger return, he could look to trade a standout reliever like Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, or Brock Stewart, who all have two more arbitration years after this one.

The Twins will presumably wait until closer to the deadline to decide on their approach. But it's notable that teams seem to have reason to believe Minnesota might end up selling at some point before July 31. The next few weeks will be interesting.