The Major League Baseball trade deadline is set for 4pm et on July 31. Action has been quiet thus far as teams attempt to navigate the first season without a waiver deadline and only one shot to get it right.

Follow along with TSN.ca's MLB Trade Rumours Blog. On Thursday, Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels is weighing his options as his team increasingly appears to be a long shot for a wild-card berth in the American League.

Rangers ready to sell?

Sitting at .500, the Texas Rangers' hopes of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2016 seem to hinge on going on a San Francisco Giants-like run to jump the logjam ahead of them in the wild-card hunt.

The Rangers currently find themselves 6.5 games back of the Oakland Athletics for the second wild card and have three teams in front of them for that spot.

General manager Jon Daniels is being realistic about the situation, but doesn't want to consider the team a buyer or seller.

"We're still having club conversations about trying to acquire guys and we're also having calls about our own guys, which is never fun, but if they're good baseball trades, where we get more value going forward, we got to consider that too," Daniels told 105.3 The Fan's Ben Rogers and Jeff Wade.

"Our own guys" that Daniels is referring to are likely starters Mike Minor and Lance Lynn, who have both term remaining after this season and would not be considered rentals, something that will undoubtedly figure into the team's calculations.

Daniels confirmed that there isn't really any impetus to move either pitcher.

"Not pushing to trade either guy, just given how these things typically work it's more likely that teams pursue somebody with a shorter-term deal than they do a longer-term deal," Daniels said. "I would expect it to play out that way, but these are tough calls. I talked to the players, talked to our staff about it. You've got guys that are performing at a high level, that are filling a need that we need now and we're going to need going forward. We need more pitching, not less ultimately."

Minor, 31, has one more year at $9.5 million remaining on his current deal. In 21 starts this season, he's 8-6 with a 3.00 earned run average and a WHIP of 1.178 over 135.0 innings pitched. He has two complete games.

Lynn, 32, is owed $10 million in 2020 and $8 million in 2021. Through 21 starts, Lynn is 12-6 with a 3.93 ERA and 1.230 WHIP over 135.0 IP.

Outfielder Nomar Mazara and potential closer Jose Leclerc will also likely be of interest to other clubs heading into the weekend.

Garcia available, but the price is high

Deivi Garcia is only 20 years old and is already hearing comparisons to his idol, Pedro Martinez, an another pitcher with a slight frame and surprising power.

Needless to say, the New York Yankees are enamoured with the righty hurler who has already risen to their Triple-A affiliate at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and is listed as the team's No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline.

It comes as no surprise then that other teams are eyeing Garcia as a potential return for any deadline deal as the Yankees - already owning baseball's best record - look to bolster their lineup heading into the stretch driver.

One of those teams, says MLB Network's Jon Heyman, is the Toronto Blue Jays.

Presumably Garcia would be the desired return in a Marcus Stroman deal, but Heyman says that's unlikely with the Yankees only willing to move the player in a deal for a player of the ilk of New York Mets starter Noah Syndergaard.

Speaking of unlikely, any Mets deal with the Yankees would be vastly unpopular with the team's fan base, something that Mets GM Brodie van Wagenen is certainly aware of, so Thor might be off the table when it comes to the Bronx Bombers.

Syndergaard, 26, is arbitration-eligible for two more seasons. He's 7-5 this season in 20 starts with an ERA of 4.33 and a 1.263 WHIP over 126.2 IP.

Nobody untouchable for the Twins

The Minnesota Twins currently enjoy a two-game lead over Cleveland atop the AL Central and appear to be on course for their second playoff appearance in three seasons.

To ensure they get there, though, the club is looking for reinforcements and the team's lead executive, Derek Falvey, says nothing is off the table when it comes to with whom the Twins are willing to part.

"You never know what the other end of the phone call is," Falvey told The Athletic's Dan Hayes. "I just think that every player has a value to us based on how many years of control that player coming back has, how impactful we think the player is — not just for this season but for seasons ahead. That makes a big difference. We always have to be factoring all of the variables in the equation, and I wouldn’t rule out any particular asset we have in our organization."

Now that doesn't mean that top prospects are going to be just given away from an organization currently ranked seventh by FanGraphs in their pre-draft farm rankings.

The issue, of course, is what the return will be - a controllable asset would be prized ahead of a rental.

"Everything’s about the cost of acquisition,” Falvey said. “Would we consider rentals? Certainly. But I would say that we obviously are going to be thoughtful about how much future value you’re giving up for that type of asset. Some of the early focus might be more on longer-term, controlled players, but we’re certainly going to look at the rental options, too."