Twins trade rumors: David Price, Josh Willingham, Kurt Suzuki, Scott Diamond

Happy Thursday, folks. Baseball is back tomorrow, but we're getting back to our regularly scheduled/non-All-Star programming here at Twinkie Town. If any of you were at the events this week and have video or photos you would like to share, I highly encourage you to put together a FanPost. I'll do my best to put the best of those right here on the cover for everyone to check out.

As for the Twins, here's the latest on the trade rumors front from ESPN's Jim Bowden.

• Source extraordinaire Bowden makes a note in his latest column (subscription required) that very few organizations have what it would take to net David Price from the Rays, but that the Twins are one of those teams. Bowden also makes the point that the Twins are in the process of acquiring prospects right now, not doling them out, which is the alpha and omega of any discussion regarding Price and Minnesota.
• The Twins are "sellers to watch." Whatever that means.
• Josh Willingham is a good target coming up to the trade deadline, Bowden says, "because he has an expiring contract" unlike a couple of other potential corner outfield targets. It's true, of course, but it falls under the John Madden or John Kruk level of analysis.
• Jon Lester hasn't received an offer from the Red Sox other than their four-year, $70 million dollar offer in spring training. That's $17.25 million per season, but Lester seems sure to garner something close to a five-year, $100 million dollar offer this winter. With the available payroll Minnesota will have in coming years, can you see the Twins being a dark horse contender for Lester's services this off-season?
• St. Louis will be scouting Kurt Suzuki in the near future. It's standard practice, of course, but when a guy has been in the league for eight seasons, is 30 years old, and only has two and a half months left on his contract, there's only so much good a scouting report can do. It can't be much more complicated than "yes, he looks healthy" or "no, he doesn't look healthy," because his performance and history speaks for itself.
• The Twins released Scott Diamond last week and he has subsequently signed with the Reds. Diamond, whose 3.54 ERA in in 27 starts in 2012 wasn't repeated in 2013, had spent all of this season in Triple-A Rochester. He'd provided the Red Wings with a 6.52 ERA in 80 innings.