Opponents Treating Minnesota Twins as Sellers

The Minnesota Twins currently sit 43-47 and their 2025 season feels on the verge of collapse, as we creep closer to the All-Star break. Their starting rotation is a mess, outside of Joe Ryan, and Pablo Lopez isn’t riding in to save the day anytime soon. Unfortunately, the lineup hasn’t been much better.

When a Major League Baseball team has a losing record into July, it usually means they are sellers at the July 31 MLB Trade Deadline, even in today’s 15-team playoff bracket. Now into the second week of the month, the Twins look a lot more like sellers than they do buyers.

Minnesota Twins quietly selling at the MLB Trade Deadline

And lately, rival MLB organizations smell blood in the water. According to Dan Hayes of The Athletic deadline buyers have been sending scouts to watch the Twins play far more often, over the past week or two.

In late June, Twins president Derek Falvey recently denied publicly any idea of selling at the deadline. Behind the scenes, however, he seems to be singing a much different tune, based on just how seriously rival scouts have shifted focus to what’s happening at Target Field.

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.

Dan Hayes – The Athletic

Although there is still time for the Minnesota Twins to right their 2025 ship, it appears those watching games are not convinced. And apparently, that includes those both outside and inside the organization. With a sale of the team still looming, you can bet that the Pohlads would love to save a buck if possible.

Even prior to this report out of The Athletic, it would have been surprising to see a sub-.500 Twins team hang onto talent they are not going to retain in near-future offseasons anyway. Realistically, the Minnesota Twins were way more likely to be willing sellers than they ever would have made buyers.

MN Twins talent up for grabs

There is a contingent of six impending free agents that Falvey could move on from. Hayes does leave plenty of room for the Minnesota Twins to move off of players who are not due to hit free agency this offseason, too. It’s possible they’re looking to move players with more term on their contracts, as well.

Though there’s no guarantee the Twins would open the store and unload controllable players, they might find themselves in a position where they need to.

Through Sunday, the Twins are on pace to draw 1.63 million fans to Target Field, a sharp decline from last season’s 1.95 million drawn. There are also no signs the impending sale process will end any time soon, either.

All of the above could force Falvey’s hand to sell off parts.

Dan Hayes – The Athletic

For the past couple of seasons, regardless of their positioning, the front office has done nothing to supplement the roster. The core has now failed to capitalize on expectations and shuffling that group is hardly out of the question.

Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa aren’t going anywhere. Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and others could be on the table though. A bad team doesn’t need elite closers, and outfield sluggers like Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach haven’t turned out as expected.

This is an odd time for the Minnesota Twins. Ownership wants to sell while the front office hasn’t put a winning product on the field. Change is needed and the extent of everything has yet to be revealed. Buckle up for an interesting couple of weeks.