Byron Buxton will begin a rehab stint at Triple-A St. Paul tomorrow, the Twins announced (relayed by Dan Hayes of the Athletic). He’ll start out as a designated hitter.
Buxton hasn’t played in an MLB game since he was placed on the injured list on August 4. While that stay on the shelf was related to a hamstring strain, soreness in his right knee has been the more pressing concern. Knee issues had kept Buxton from playing defense at any point this season. He got a start in center field when he began a rehab assignment at St. Paul three weeks ago, but he was quickly pulled off that stint when the knee flared back up.
The Twins should officially sew up the AL Central title by this weekend. They would clinch on tomorrow’s off day if both Detroit and Cleveland lose. They’re unlikely to track down the AL West winner to secure a first-round bye, so it’s highly likely they’ll go into October as the #3 seed in the American League. That leaves them a little under two weeks to sort things out for the postseason.
Minnesota is giving Carlos Correa at least a week and a half on the injured list to rest his left foot after playing through plantar fasciitis for the bulk of the season. They’ll now get another look at Buxton as he works to get to game readiness before the playoffs. While there are only four games remaining on the Triple-A schedule, Buxton could shake off more rust in low-leverage MLB contests during the final week of the regular season.
It isn’t clear whether that’ll include more action in the outfield. Manager Rocco Baldelli has previously left open the possibility of trying Buxton back in center field after the break in his rehab stint.
When healthy, Buxton is among the best defensive outfielders in the game. With the knee issue robbing him of that aspect this season, he’s having a down year. Buxton is hitting .207/.294/.438 with 17 home runs across 347 plate appearances. That’s middling production for a strict DH. Edouard Julien, who has been Minnesota’s primary DH with Buxton out, carries a .268/.378/.458 line over 371 trips in his rookie campaign. If the Twins have a fully healthy infield of Alex Kirilloff, Jorge Polanco, Correa and Royce Lewis for the postseason (Lewis is day-to-day with hamstring soreness), the Twins could consider Julien their top DH option.
Twins head athletic trainer about to get himself some overtime money in October
Add Buxton to the list of Sale and Rendon as great players who have trouble staying on the field.
That’s putting it mildly
Lots of Twins players have this issue.
Buxton, Kirilloff, Lewis, Polanco, Kepler..
There’s only one Twins position player who will qualify this year (Correa).
Rehab assignment smh there’s like six games left in the season. Glass buxton sucks
I knew he had trouble staying healthy, but I never really looked into it at all – next year will be his 10th season and he only averages 74 games a season (including the shortened COVID season which he still missed 20+ games).
Not certain the Twins should play him unless he is healthy enough to be in the outfield. He was a liability for the team in 2023 when not playing healthy
The twins should absolutely not play him. He’s a liability, and takes up a roster & a lineup spot that is better used by a young, productive player. Twins were 55-54 last game he played now they’re 81-72. So 26-18 since his last game. All season if they got to 3-4 games over .500 they’d go on a 4-5 game losing streak. That stopped when Buxton stopped playing
Phantom
Correlation does not equal causation
Sure, a DH batting .207 with a 98 OPS+ and logjamming a roster and taking DH at bats away from Jeffers, Julien, Polanco, or Lewis has no causation on the team getting better when he’s not there…
Not to mention several twins have publicly made comments about in baseball you’re always hurting but they’re still gonna go out there and play. That doesn’t apply to Buxton apparently. His entire career, one day he’s starting center field in a meaningless All star game, running all over the field in a national spotlight, then the entire next week he’s too hurt to even DH for the twins. Dudes a cancer
Baseball is a dangerous sport. I heard a rumor that they even have a GREEN MONSTER in Boston. How are you expected to play under such conditions?
Platoon DH between Julien/Buck
Phantom
I’ll grant you, though I’m not sure that I believe it, but for the sake of argument, that those players are better uses of a roster spot than Buxton.
But there’s no way that that difference is 14 games (the difference between .500 and .591). If you want to believe that, ok. Some people also believe the Earth is flat.
As for him being a cancer and not playing though injuries that other players would, I know that I can’t possibly know if that’s true or not. Do you you realize that about yourself, or no?
LOUD NOISES!
Fra-gee-lay…Must be Italian!
How so?
Oscar,
Never seen A Christmas Story?
Tony Oliva always had knee issues.
Maybe he should spend less time doing Dairy Queen commercials.
The DQ curse strikes yet another player:(
DotNet
Why?
There’s no reason to think that doing commercials has anything to do with his injuries or performance
It was dumb when they signed him, and has only gotten stupider. They should dump his contract to free up space on the roster. Attach an Infiled prospect and send him to the Mets (or someone willing to sign the remainder of his paychecks). Joey Gallo’s hit tool is better than Byron Buxton’s health tool.
Health should be treated like a skill, same as baserunning and pitch selection. “Oh it was a freak injury!” It’s an outlier once, maybe twice, but after so many years of “I tweaked my finger” or whatever it is happening once a month, he’s no longer worth it.
Somehow he has twins fans bamboozled into thinking he WANTS to play and the twins front office is being overly cautious with him and keeping him off the field.
He has a playing time incentive contract. And This is the same guy that threatened to file a grievance in 2018 for being sent to AAA when he had a 5 OPS+ (not a typo). If he’d file a grievance over that, there is a 1000% chance he’d file a grievance over playing time if he was being kept off the field by the twins for caution and begging to play.
RE: RizzyDat
Health should be treated like a skill, “same as baserunning and pitch selection”
It absolutely is
Players with higher injury risk sign smaller contracts then players with lower injury risk.
Buxton signed for 7/$100 which is about $15 million per year – plus incentives. Find me a similar contact for a player who doesn’t have an extensive injury history.
I’m guessing that the Twins FO continues to hope and pray they can still squeeze some value out of this contract, but with each month that passes with virtually no production out of Bux the cost/benefit analysis inches closer and closer to a DFA decision. Hard to imagine a trade ever becoming manifest given the contract tied to this ineffectual player.
Seriously, how many times has this headline appeared on MLBTR over the years?
…and how many more times to come?
The actual list of his injuries
DATE INJURY
8/2/23 Hamstring
6/24/23 Back
6/1/23 Ribs
5/20/23 Leg
8/22/22 Hip
8/2/22 Knee
7/23/22 Knee
5/7/22 Hip
4/15/22 Knee
6/21/21 Hand
5/6/21 Hip
4/26/21 Knee
4/15/21 Hamstring
4/4/21 Illness
9/26/20 Concussion
8/20/20 Left shoulder
7/13/20 Left Foot
9/10/19 Shoulder
8/2/19 Shoulder
7/13/19 Concussion
6/14/19 Wrist
5/28/19 Knee
5/30/18 Fractured great left toe
4/17/18 Migraine
4/15/18 Migraines
Are all those separate DL/IL stints or not indicated?
I think they are separate IL incidents. But if you look at the last two in the list, there’s an error—can’t be injured twice so close together for the same injury (migraines).
Source—
foxsports.com/mlb/byron-buxton-player-injuries
Unique list—
Hamstring, Back, Ribs, Knee, Leg, Hip, Hand, Concussion, Left Shoulder, Left Foot, Shoulder, Wrist, Fractured great left toe, Illness
Goodness — maybe easier to start with what’s still good.
*Update* Byron Buxton to IL with neck spasms from reading MLBTR updates.
Twins head trainer, Nick Paparesta, is recently on record quoting he expects Buxton to be playing without restrictions. It seemed pretty ridiculous at the time, and I’m still very skeptical. Paparesta was hired at the end of the last season and I have to wonder if he’s already on the hot seat.
I think it’s highly dubious expecting Buxton to be able to contribute at the plate at this point, but the Twins are committed to him.
Why bother? Twins have done quite well without him.
Exactly. If I was one of the players who’d sweated through the season to get the team to the title and I got dumped so a so-called ‘star’ that had sat out the grind could get on the post season gravy train, I would be justifiably pissed.