Buyers or sellers? Don’t label the Twins’ trade deadline plans, said Derek Falvey

With the commerce deadline set for Thursday at p m CDT the Twins find themselves in a sort of no-man s land under but still with a slim chance to make the playoffs with a wild card berth Association president Derek Falvey has taken his share of calls but they re more about assessing a likely partner s situation than authentically tossing names around And that situation can change challenge to competition There have been a minimal deals made but generally Falvey mentioned There s a lot more made of how much happens in the week prior to the deadline than what certainly happens One of the reasons things are so squishy is that there are a lot of teams in the same situation as the Twins who were four games under but five games out of an American League wild card spot before Sunday s series finale against Washington at Target Field At the start of Sunday s games there were eight American League teams with either a wild card spot or within five games of one In the NL with the Cubs and Brewers tied atop the Central there were nine and the largest division lead belonged to the Phillies at games up in the East So with a little more than two months left in the regular season postseason limbo is crowded and for the Twins there is no buy or sell in the window You perpetually want to enter this part of the season thinking about tactics you can add to the club Falvey reported Entering the break it felt like we were gaining a little bit of momentum The last couple series haven t gone as well as we would have hoped Heading into Sunday s match the Twins were - since returning from the all-star break with three losses against the two worst teams in baseball Colorado and Washington and had five teams to jump for the third AL wild card spot Now the job is just to evaluate what comes our way and deal with in any direction manageable Falvey declared Of the six Twins veterans playing on expiring contracts reliever Danny Coulombe first baseman Ty France and utility man Willi Castro stand out as players who could help a association down the stretch and in the postseason France has doubles six home runs and is second on the Twins with RBIs Coulombe a lefty has been lights out - with a earned-run average in appearances Castro is a switch-hitter with several power who can play reliable defense almost anywhere Falvey noted the Twins are not offering players to other teams but fielding queries We ve heard from quote unquote seller teams calling me about players for their current crew and next year Falvey stated That s pretty common these days You try to recalibrate your roster every year I think that s how we re going to approach this week and that s the way we have been approaching it The Twins acquired their current ace right-hander Joe Ryan an all-star this month on a deadline deal that sent Nelson Cruz to Tampa Bay in Ryan was at Triple-A at the time and he hurriedly became a mainstay in the Twins rotation If Falvey and his personnel staff think they can acquire a participant of Ryan s caliber whether he s nearly ready for the pros or just starting his career the Twins will work with any club One thing philosophically at any deadline buy sell or somewhere in between never shut off avenues to talent whatever that talent is Falvey reported Don t say We re only going for this we re only going for that Or We only want pitching or we only want infielders If you do that you re shutting off a path to talent