With trade deadline looming, who might the Twins put on the market?

After the Twins came out of the All-Star break and dropped two of three games to the historically awful Colorado Rockies, then two of three to the Los Angeles Dodgers, they are trending toward becoming sellers at the trade deadline.

The Twins are viewed as one of the most pivotal teams at the deadline because they have more attractive trade candidates than obvious sellers such as the Rockies, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals.

It’s unclear whether the Twins front office would consider more of a teardown than players who are on the verge of reaching free agency — the Twins weren’t actively looking to sell before the All-Star break — but their phone lines will be busy with teams hoping to pry away top players.

Here is a primer on the Twins’ trade candidates, with the trade deadline next Thursday (July 31) at 5 p.m.

UTL Willi Castro, LF Harrison Bader, LHP Danny Coulombe, SP Chris Paddack, 1B Ty France and C Christian Vázquez

Rental players inherently have lower trade value because they are free agents in three months, and none of the Twins’ impending free agents are viewed as top-of-the-market type players that would generate a big prospect haul.

Castro should stir up interest because he’s a switch hitter who can play multiple positions. For contending teams looking to safeguard against injuries over the final two months of the regular season, Castro provides a lot of security with his versatility. He is having his best offensive season, too, with a .775 OPS and 10 homers.

Coulombe is striking out more than a batter per inning while giving up only three runs in 38 relief appearances, making him one of the better lefty arms available. He has pitched more in the sixth and seventh innings than a true back-end reliever role, a knock on his trade value, but he has stranded 20 of his 24 inherited runners this year.

Paddack hadn’t pitched well recently until Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the Dodgers, when he delivered six strong innings. In the seven starts before that, he had an 8.55 ERA. But there is always a need for starters at the trade deadline. The San Francisco Giants traded starter Alex Cobb before he made his season debut last summer as he recovered from multiple injuries.

France doesn’t hit for much power, especially as a platooned first baseman. Vázquez maintains a strong defensive reputation — the San Diego Padres showed some interest in him last December — but his offensive numbers have eroded.

C Ryan Jeffers and RP Justin Topa

Unless the Twins are completely punting on the 2026 season, they will be counting on Jeffers to be their lead catcher next year. The organization is light on catching depth in the upper levels of the minor leagues and losing Jeffers would exacerbate that issue.

SP Joe Ryan, RP Jhoan Duran, RP Griffin Jax, RP Brock Stewart, LF Trevor Larnach and RF Matt Wallner

There aren’t many top 100-level prospects traded at the deadline anymore, including zero from Baseball America’s list last year, but Ryan, Duran and Jax are the Twins who would command the biggest haul in return.

Ryan, not eligible for free agency until after the 2027 season, has been one of the best pitchers in the league this year and he could be a playoff starter on virtually any team. For the Twins front office to seriously entertain trading Ryan, it would need to be an overwhelming trade return and at least some skepticism about their ability to contend next year because of the difficulty to replace his production.

The Phillies just committed $12 million to sign 40-year-old free-agent reliever David Robertson, who has yet to pitch this season, underscoring the value for late-inning bullpen help at the trade deadline. Duran and Jax are drawing a ton of attention from scouts because they could pitch the last outs to win a playoff series — and acquiring them now means they could theoretically affect three playoff pushes before they’re eligible for free agency.

Stewart’s injury history works against him a bit — his 32⅓ innings this year are two shy of a career high — but he is quite effective when healthy, and he is under team control for two more seasons.