Just for the hell of it, let's consider the possibility that the Twins might actually go shopping for some help to stay in the playoff race this year.

I know, I know. But I am in a dreaming mood. I spent all last night in my bed, dreaming I was playing in the World Cup. And I don't even like soccer that much. So I figure if I can spend a night dreaming I am a world class athlete, I can spend a few moments here dreaming that the Twins might actually try to go for winning a World Series instead of just hoping it falls in their collective laps.

Not surprisingly, we learned a lot about the Twins in the 3 game set against the Red Sox that concluded yesterday with a horrendous 18-5 loss. Most Twins fans will say this team desperately needs some more oomph at third base. While that is true, particularly if it's a right handed hitter at third, I get the feeling the Twins don't see it that way. They see their platoon of Brian Buscher, Mike Lamb, Nick Punto and a sprinkling of Brendan Harris as being good enough. Given the dearth of trade options at the hot corner, other than big names from teams whose asking price would simply be too high for the Twins, it's probably safe to assume the current 3.5 man platoon at third will be the procedure going forward.

What is abundantly clear after the sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox is that this team has to bolster their late relief corps (and really ALL their relief corps save for the underused Joe Nathan) if they want to stay in and win close ballgames down the stretch. Unless Gardy decides to FREE JOE NATHAN and give him the ball for more than an inning every once in a while.

Sweep notwithstanding, many eyes are on the Twins now, as they came off a ridiculously hot stretch and still sit just 3.5 games back from division leading Chicago heading into a 4 game set at Detroit before the All-Star break.

All the chatter from ESPN.com to other bloggers to columnists from the Star Tribune, says that many instinctively feel that this is the time for the Twins to try to make a move to stay in the hunt. Indeed, now is the time, as opposed to waiting until the Trade Deadline to try and wring something out of what's left on the market in the 11th hour, or worse - trying to make a move on someone on waivers after the deadline. Many GMs over the years have been quoted as saying moves you make get worse as the deadline gets closer, since the teams you're trying to deal with know you're up against a deadline.

If you peruse the list of guys Tim Dierkes over at MLB Trade Rumors has put together as possible relief trade bait as we go forward, you see some interesting possibilities. The A's, Rangers and Pirates all seem to have a lot of guys available, with the top options clearly currently under the employ of Billy Beane. Since Beane doesn't seem to like to play with the Twins front office, I'd doubt that anything will be done there.

A couple of former Twins made the list in LaTroy Hawkins and "Every Day" Eddie Guardado, but both men are far removed from their halcyon days experienced while in a Twins uniform. High impact they are not.

The moves that might be within the Twins reach (again, if they're even in the mood to make a move) all seem to come from NL teams that should be looking to sell. According to this list, the Rockies are not only looking to move Matt Holliday, but could also be willing to let go of relievers Brian Fuentes or Kip Wells. Given their fall from the highs of last year's deep run in the playoffs, maybe they're looking to unload some guys and make room for prospects for a relatively small return.

Perhaps Damaso Marte of the Pirates would be a good pickup? He's a lefty, which might give the Twins the option of sending Breslow back to the minors for a little more seasoning. Or, they could keep Breslow in order to have a couple of lefty middle relief options and send Bass back down to the minors where he belongs for now.

And finally, the Nationals are always in selling mode, so Jon Rauch could be an option. As Dierkes points out, he's racked up some saves in the absence of Chad Cordero (17, in fact), so he's shown he can put guys away at this level, albeit in the NL.

The Twins also have issues when it comes to putting guys in the right situation to perform mop-up duty if and when the starter has to get pulled early, as evidence by Boof's poor outing in relief of Livan yesterday. Peter Gammons made the comment on ESPN just a couple days ago that the trouble with finding good long relief on the market is that all the good long relievers are currently starters in the NL, and thus would come with too high a price tag. So there might even be options out there that might make Boof expendable, but one must be careful.

The question, as always, is whether the Twins front office is looking to make a move. One might glean quite a bit of knowledge in terms of the Twins thinking depending whether or not a move is made. If they do not make any moves to greatly impact either their lineup or their bullpen, it probably means they're going to wait and see if, more by luck than by effort, they make it into the playoffs by staying the course. If not, oh well, they clearly are not looking to stray off the course of building toward 2010.

If they do make a move, however, it shows that they are actually willing to take some risk to gain some larger reward. Twins fans might appreciate that, given the investment they have made into this team not only by putting their tax dollars into the new stadium, but supporting this team over their long home stand in the last few weeks. The surprising success of this team over the first part of the year has brought back quite a few fans who'd gotten fed up with this organization at the end of last season and decided against venturing to the Metrodome last August and September.

If the Twins want to keep those butts in the seats through the dog days of summer, they might do well to keep putting a competitive product out on the field in 2008. And Twins fans might have a little more to dream about as the summer rolls along.