With a 49-40 record at the All-Star break, the Minnesota Twins are in the thick of the American League playoff race. That makes them potential buyers over the next couple weeks, ahead of the non-waiver trade deadline, and there are some specific areas that general manager Terry Ryan may address.

Shortstop looks like a position of need for the Twins, as the trio of Danny Santana, Eduardo Escobar and Eduardo Nunez have been either disappointing or are ill-suited to being an every day player. Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN speculated in a recent column that the Los Angeles Dodgers may be willing to move Jimmy Rollins to make way for top prospect Corey Seager, and he suggested the Twins as a team that could trade for the 36-year old former National League MVP.

Rollins has posted a dismal slash-line so far this season (.213/.266/.338), but some bad luck (.230 BABIP) hasn’t helped and he has done slightly better so far in July (.257/.297/.429 slash-line in 10 games) with solid overall power production (eight home runs, 29 RBI, 13 doubles).

This is the final year of Rollins’ contract, and he is due $5 million over the rest of the season. The financial part should not be a concern for the big-spending Dodgers, but if they want to trade Rollins and an interested team were willing to pay some of that remaining money it would be hard to ask for a top prospect in return.

Santana showed signs of life in the series leading up to the All-Star break, as he went 5-for-11 with two doubles and six RBI over the final three games against the Detroit Tigers. That is obviously a small sample size in the scope of his overall struggles this season (.225/.245/.313 slash-line), and it’s not sustainable, but if the All-Star break doesn’t break Santana’s hot streak manager Paul Molitor should be willing to put him in the lineup virtually every day until further notice.

The American League Central is wide-open right now, due in part to injuries to key players on other teams, so adding short-term pieces could appeal to the Twins. But putting any expectations on the idea that a late-season rebound is coming for Rollins would be foolish for Minnesota, and I don’t see him as a clear upgrade over Santana right now.

Brad Berreman is a Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.