Thoughtful work. Thank you.

I appreciate the space for conversation here and hope that the Buxton conversation can happen here rather than nearly every post.

I don’t think I fit in any of the categories. I  certainly not happy to see him at DH only. I can’t imagine anyone would be happy including the Twins staff. I honestly don’t need more details on the medicals from the team. I appreciate that they are careful to protect the privacy of the player. I trust that if Buxton could play in the field he would be. I don’t need to know more. 

I agree with one addition. He not only can't play in the field, he's pretty clearly not himself at the plate either. I really wonder if the better idea would be to just shut him down through the All Star break. Bring up Wallner and/or Miranda and let Buxton heal up for the second half. These half measures aren't working. Let's find out if Wallner can force a spot and try to heap up Buxton at the same time.  

You raise good points on the lack of a communication strategy. Fans have been listening and watching, but none of the answers have been clear.

It's probably because the team is trying to do three things simultaneously:

1) Keep fans coming to Target Field with the hope of seeing "prime Buxton" while avoiding the crushing, sinking feeling that they've signed a perennially-injured player to a long-term contract.

2) Keep Buxton from having to face additional questions on specific issues that are still unclear, probably even to him.

3) Keep Buxton up with the team for as long as possible, in the hopes that something clicks and he has at least sporadic good games.

Sadly, this isn't sustainable. He isn't better. He isn't ever going to get better. We've seen the best of Buxton. What remains of his ability may still be useful as a very expensive platoon DH for a year or two, but that's all he's going to be. That's a hard thing to admit internally, and a very hard thing to sell to fans. They're in a tough spot, but they should probably just admit their own frustration and confusion, rather than spread false hope - or worse, to admonish fans for just wanting to know what's going on.

They have mentioned hip, knees and then he goes out with back spasms.  Not sure he can ever recover. 

@jharaldson - This is a terrific blog post. I think you laid out your points just fine. 

Yes, we all want to watch him play CF. Yes, the Twins have tried to answer when asked about it, and at any given time, those answers can change. I'd be fine with them strategically ILing him around the All Star break to try to not have him do anything for those 10 days. 

I don't think there's any sort of sinister plan that they're holding back from fans, and if there is something more serious than a knee surgery (remember all the dumb theories Twins fans had when Bill Smith deemed Joe Mauer's knee injury as bi-lateral leg weakness... which basically meant it was both knees... some people said he had some pretty major diseases. I know I don't have time to think like that.), then I would hope people would respect his privacy! 

Knowing Buxton the little bit that I do. Seeing and hearing about his work ethic, I have no doubt he's doing what he can. Having seen and heard what Mauer had to do to just get himself ready to play every day. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, and like I said, I wouldn't assume anything sinister. 

No organization is or should be "too" transparent. Like @jorgenswest wrote above... if he could play CF, he would be playing CF. I want him in the lineup. 

I'm frustrated by the lack of communication and clarity here too, and usually we do get more information than is being provided to us fans.

But at the same time, Byron Buxton does not owe us his private medical history. It's not the expectation we as fans have, but he doesn't have to share any details he doesn't wish to share. And the Twins seem to run a pretty tight ship, we don't get many secrets spilled with this organization.

I agree with much of the above.  One report that confused me was the one of Correa talked him into being only a DH.  Why would Buxton need to be convinced to do this by Correa if he was physically unable to play CF.  It just made it sound like it was a temporary situation.  But I'm good either way.

nicksavaking communicates excellent points in his post.

I could care less about the "intimate" details of Buxton's knee (back/hand/shoulder/head...pick a body part!) but I do wish the Twins would throw us a bone. This on-going mystery re: Buxton has and continues to dilute fan loyalty and trust, He can be the primary "face" of the team in advertising all day long but eventually, even the most fervent fan will lose interest in the team and its poster boy if they feel misled or duped by the club. 

Roll out a simple 15 minute press conference and give the fans something they feel is the real deal. Don't rely on the manager's pre and post game. Those have become trite and way too predictable.   

The entire situation is frustrating. I don't know of anyone who isn't frustrated by at least part of it. We all know what Buxton can do in CF, and what his peak is as an overall player. Not being able to see it is incredibly frustrating for us. I can't imagine the frustration Buxton himself is going through. 

I just know everyone involved with the Twins wants Buxton to be Buxton as much, or more, than any of us here. I don't know what's wrong with his knee, and don't really need to. I know if he could play he would. The only thing that more info could clear up for me is if I need to start preparing myself to never see peak Buxton again. Is this a degenerative thing? Is it something that likely won't ever be truly fixed? Is this the end?

My concern is no longer for 2023. It's for 2024 and beyond. But I wouldn't expect the team to come out and tell us Buxton's knee is toast, and this is what he is moving forward. Not just from the PR side of things, but for the human side of things. Buxton has to be struggling enough with all this that I don't see what good comes from telling fans he's toast. While our TD community is by and large very respectful, not all fans are. Why put anything extra on Buxton right now than you have to? I just hope they're open to shutting him down this year if that's what it'd take to get him right for 2024 instead of risking future seasons in the name of him limping through this one.

5 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

My concern is no longer for 2023. It's for 2024 and beyond. But I wouldn't expect the team to come out and tell us Buxton's knee is toast, and this is what he is moving forward. Not just from the PR side of things, but for the human side of things. Buxton has to be struggling enough with all this that I don't see what good comes from telling fans he's toast. While our TD community is by and large very respectful, not all fans are. Why put anything extra on Buxton right now than you have to? I just hope they're open to shutting him down this year if that's what it'd take to get him right for 2024 instead of risking future seasons in the name of him limping through this one.

I actually think if the Twins came out and told us that he had lost all of the cartilage in his knee and would only be getting worse from here on out that fans would react with sympathy.  For as long as I have been a fan I have heard people talking about what would have happened if Tony Oliva hadn't hit his knee on that sprinkler in Oakland.  All Twins fans knew it and while I wasn't around during it I was around in the 80's and it never seemed like people held it against him because they were part of the journey.  Right now the fact that the Twins and Buxton are being so tight lipped about this injury is causing people to resent Buxton instead of resenting Buxton's injury.

10 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Buxton has to be struggling enough with all this that I don't see what good comes from telling fans he's toast. While our TD community is by and large very respectful, not all fans are. Why put anything extra on Buxton right now than you have to? 

Not disagreeing with anything here, but I do think the lack of clarity also doesn't do Buxton any favors as some of the less-than-good-faith fans turn that into "he's soft" or "not a gamer" etc.  Plus, if he's so injured that he can't consistently produce at the plate he's going to be criticized for the lack of performance which can't help his mindset either.  Just a tough situation all around.  

He’s fragile. He’s a blah hitter to watch when he isn’t hot for a 1-3 day window. He swings from the heels too much - that is who he is. Hence back spasms. Hardest hit ball in the game through the 5th inning the other day and it was a ground ball of his to short…….when he squares it, that’s exciting. All of this was easier to take when he played CF, OR when he wasn’t on the field and we all could just reminisce about his catches and drives into the gaps or into the seats. ………he averaged SITTING 54% of the time in 7 of 8 seasons…….we’ve done lots of reminiscing & romancing of Byron Buxton.

11 minutes ago, jharaldson said:

I actually think if the Twins came out and told us that he had lost all of the cartilage in his knee and would only be getting worse from here on out that fans would react with sympathy.  For as long as I have been a fan I have heard people talking about what would have happened if Tony Oliva hadn't hit his knee on that sprinkler in Oakland.  All Twins fans knew it and while I wasn't around during it I was around in the 80's and it never seemed like people held it against him because they were part of the journey.  Right now the fact that the Twins and Buxton are being so tight lipped about this injury is causing people to resent Buxton instead of resenting Buxton's injury.

8 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Not disagreeing with anything here, but I do think the lack of clarity also doesn't do Buxton any favors as some of the less-than-good-faith fans turn that into "he's soft" or "not a gamer" etc.  Plus, if he's so injured that he can't consistently produce at the plate he's going to be criticized for the lack of performance which can't help his mindset either.  Just a tough situation all around.  

More than fair points. I don't really know what the right answer is. Probably isn't one. No matter what they do there's going to be corners of fandom, and the internet, that light everyone involved on fire. I just hope we get to see the real Buxton again someday.

Throughout this whole saga I have been of the position that they just need to put him on the IL until he is healthy. He is hurting the team occupying a DH spot that better hitters could be using.

I think the issue is that they know a 10, 30, even 60 day IL stint is not going to fix this. But they aren't going to disclose that due to whatever repercussions they think might come.

This is who Buxton is now. Maybe he has another surgery this offseason and makes a miraculous recovery but I doubt it. The Twins are not eager to admit to the fans what their outlook on Buxtons future is.

On 6/27/2023 at 1:40 PM, chpettit19 said:

The entire situation is frustrating. I don't know of anyone who isn't frustrated by at least part of it. We all know what Buxton can do in CF, and what his peak is as an overall player. Not being able to see it is incredibly frustrating for us. I can't imagine the frustration Buxton himself is going through. 

I just know everyone involved with the Twins wants Buxton to be Buxton as much, or more, than any of us here. I don't know what's wrong with his knee, and don't really need to. I know if he could play he would. The only thing that more info could clear up for me is if I need to start preparing myself to never see peak Buxton again. Is this a degenerative thing? Is it something that likely won't ever be truly fixed? Is this the end?

My concern is no longer for 2023. It's for 2024 and beyond. But I wouldn't expect the team to come out and tell us Buxton's knee is toast, and this is what he is moving forward. Not just from the PR side of things, but for the human side of things. Buxton has to be struggling enough with all this that I don't see what good comes from telling fans he's toast. While our TD community is by and large very respectful, not all fans are. Why put anything extra on Buxton right now than you have to? I just hope they're open to shutting him down this year if that's what it'd take to get him right for 2024 instead of risking future seasons in the name of him limping through this one.

Unfortunately, Byron Buxton has not been able to regain his health really at least the ill-fated slide in Boston in April 2022. We are move than fourteen month since that injury. 

As a veteran of three joint replacements, including both knees, since November of 2022, I suspect that Byron has degenerative arthritis in his knee, if not both his knee and hip. My joint replacements were the result of arthritis and it isn't unprecedented for people of Buxton's age to be afflicted with arthritis. The name that comes to mind is Sandy Koufax and he retired from baseball after his age 30 season. 

I apologize in advance for making assumptions without evidence and perhaps jumping to conclusions, but if the knee wasn't really heped by the off-season surgery, it just sounds too familiar (and sad) to me.

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

Unfortunately, Byron Buxton has not bee able to regain his health really at least the ill-fated slide in Boston in April 2022. We are move than fourteen month since that injury. 

As a veteran of three joint replacements, including both knees, since November of 2022, I suspect that Byron has degenerative arthritis in his knee, if not both his knee and hip. My joint replacements were the result of arthritis and it isn't unprecedented for people of Buxton's age to be afflicted with arthritis. The name that comes to mind is Sandy Koufax and he retired from baseball after his age 30 season. 

I apologize in advance for making assumptions without evidence and perhaps jumping to conclusions, but if the knee wasn't really heped by the off-season surgery, it just sounds too familiar (and sad) to me.

This is most definitely my biggest fear for him. His body has been telling him "no" pretty frequently for his whole career, and I'm concerned it may be giving him his final "no" in real time. I just really hope that's not the case. He deserves better.

On 6/26/2023 at 9:37 PM, MABB1959 said:

They have mentioned hip, knees and then he goes out with back spasms.  Not sure he can ever recover. 

You do realize that the body is all connected and that one has an effect on the other. I’ll use myself as an example. I have arthritis in my right foot. When it flares it’s painful. I don’t always realize how I’m walking then all of a sudden have knee, hip or back pain. A weakness in one area usually is over-compensated for in another creating new problems that seem unrelated but aren’t.. It’s all connected and leads to all these different statements of physical woes which leads to all our confusion of just what is happening..

That said,, as a fan I’m frustrated by the situation. And I have no clue what the real answer is or if there even is a long-term satisfactory answer for us, the team or especially for Buxton himself. And I don’t think anyone really knows, tbh, Can’t communicate what you don’t know. It’s frustrating and will be frustrating until there is some kind of finality to the situation, which likely won’t be a good one,

1 hour ago, Squirrel said:

You do realize that the body is all connected and that one has an effect on the other. I’ll use myself as an example. I have arthritis in my right foot. When it flares it’s painful. I don’t always realize how I’m walking then all of a sudden have knee, hip or back pain. A weakness in one area usually is over-compensated for in another creating new problems that seem unrelated but aren’t.. It’s all connected and leads to all these different statements of physical woes which leads to all our confusion of just what is happening..

That said,, as a fan I’m frustrated by the situation. And I have no clue what the real answer is or if there even is a long-term satisfactory answer for us, the team or especially for Buxton himself. And I don’t think anyone really knows, tbh, Can’t communicate what you don’t know. It’s frustrating and will be frustrating until there is some kind of finality to the situation, which likely won’t be a good one,

You do not need to be so condescending by starting off assuming I do not realize!  I do realize that and it is exactly why I think he is really not going to get much better.  I have many years of parenting a high level competitive gymnast.  She has had knee issues that led to her hip getting out of alignment because she was over compensating.  Luckily so far her back has not been injured.  Once the back injuries flare up it is an area for concern,  Many gymnast are forced to retired because of back injuries that can lead to a lifetime of pain.

I do know that his ailments appear to be getting worse.  Having back spasms just by swinging a bat or running is a big deal.  Just saying after all these years he is not getting better and seems worse this year than any other.

16 hours ago, stringer bell said:

I apologize in advance for making assumptions without evidence and perhaps jumping to conclusions,

In the absence of clarity all fans can do is assume and jump to conclusions.  

Obviously no NHL fans on here..."Byron Buxton out with lower body injury"

Health matters are private and don't need to be discussed. Major sporting leagues have injury reports, but I believe that is mostly for the odds-makers in LV.

one thing for sure..Buxton is a gamer and should never be accused of 'being soft'. He only knows one speed...all out. That makes all of this more frustrating. His history would imply that putting on the IL for 10 days, or 20 days, or even 2 months isnt going to heal him up. He had the entire offseason to heal and it didn't happen. His body is betraying him by degree.

Remember Bobby Orr? His career ended in 9 years because his knees were shot and unfixable to play his sport. No one ever accused Orr of being soft. His body just didn't let him play anymore. Buck may be in that same category. His knees may be shot. And the rest of his body can't compensate anymore, so its one injury after another.

Since Buxton's contract extension came after his knee surgery, do we figure that the FO expected Buxton to be ready for spring training when they signed him?  But that just didn't happen?   Hard to believe they didn't give him a full physical workup before they signed him.  

Buck does not owe us an explanation about his medical status, but the Twins owe to him and the fans to SHUT HIM DOWN until he can get healthy enough to be productive.

And if he can never be healthy and productive again... make the tough decisions... that is what insurance is for on those big contracts. 

A lot of comments that Buxton's medical status is not the fans business. If there was something of a personal nature effecting is work that would be one thing but since they're trying to play him every day that doesn't seem likely. Teams usually give specific reports on medical status. The fact that the organization has given so much confusing info doesn't make sense. I would think it would be in their best interest to be up front with what's actually going on. A player with a $15,000,000 contract is going to get a lot more fan scrutiny than someone making a lot less.
Maybe they afraid to admit they made a big mistake in extending him?