Are the Twins and Brewers preparing to make a trade?

With the Brewers set to be heavy sellers at the deadline, they're going to come up frequently in rumors over these next couple weeks. That process seems to have started already, as Mike Berardino is reporting that Terry Ryan has reached out to Doug Melvin.

I'm told Terry Ryan has checked in with Doug Melvin recently, but talks between #MNTwins and #Brewers have only been preliminary.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) July 6, 2015

Keep an eye on veteran LHP Neal Cotts. Had a miserable start for #Brewers, but 1.02 ERA, .536 OPS allowed, 10.19 K/9 past 17 outings.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) July 6, 2015

Cotts is on a one year deal, worth $3 million, which means that there's roughly $1.42 million left on his contract. That wouldn't be a burden for any team, and the Brewers should have no problem trading him. However, since Cotts is a rental player, and he's a complimentary bullpen piece rather than a closer, there wouldn't be much value coming back. It would make sense to package Cotts with another player to increase the overall return, Carlos Gomez for example.

In late June, Jon Heyman proposed a trade that would send Gomez back to the Twins, and with Minnesota's struggling outfield, there's an obvious fit. Gomez is signed through the end of the 2016 season, and with Scott Boras as his agent, Milwaukee likely wouldn't be able to compete for his services in the open market. Even if a deal with the Twins doesn't work out, it would be in the Brewers best interest to trade Gomez while he still has a full-season left on his contract, as it dramatically increases his value.

While it's still early in the trade deadline process, the Athletics and Cubs completed their mega-deal on July 4th of last year, and something could happen soon. The talks between Minnesota and Milwaukee were described by Berardino as still being in the preliminary stages, but it's obviously a situation to keep an eye on.