Byron Buxton Agrees to a Contract Extension with the Twins

[tarheeltwinsfan]

This is absolutely the best news. Now I am looking forward to Spring Training at Ft. Myers.  What specifically is a full no trade clause? Does it mean the Twins cannot trade Buck?  Thank you FO for signing Buck.  Now go get some pitching.

[operation mindcrime]

26 minutes ago, Sconnie said:

woo!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\m/

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

First box checked. 

Proceed.

[DocBauer]

Very Happy! But I am also surprised. Not only does his 2022 stay level vs an immediate jump, his his guaranteed yearly is $1-2M less than I would have expected. Further, I saw things such as MVP or GG or All Star selections being gravy and games played or PA being tied to the meat of his incentives.

This is actually very team friendly, without being unfair, and Buck will be worth every dollar of a potential $25M-ish if he's healthy enough and good enough to earn all bonuses any given season. Guarantee you the team will be happy to write that check.

Now that that's done....on to pitching!

[Einheri]

49 minutes ago, ToriiRules!! said:

How can we be competitive with Bailey ober and joe Ryan as our only starting pitchers and a slew of free agent pitchers already off the board this team is going to lose 100 games next year 

Trades.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

Well...some.  We had a sizable contingent saying anything less than 150M was a slap in the face and he'd get at least 25M AAV.

And some others at the opposite extreme saying they wouldn't pay $10M a year for the man, and at least one "non-tender him" if I recall.

Still, my sense was that the majority who weighed in will look at the actual contract details and say, "yeah."  As crowd sourcing, I think we done good.

At the end of the day, maybe there is as much latitude and disagreement on what is meant by "consensus" as for the word "mediocre".

[Einheri]

1 minute ago, Einheri said:

Trades.

But, yeah, it's going to be tough.

[TheLeviathan]

Just now, ashbury said:

And some others at the other extreme saying they wouldn't pay $10M a year for the man, and at least one "non-tender" if I recall.

Still, my sense was that the majority who weighed in will look at the actual contract details and say, "yeah."  As crowd sourcing, I think we done good.

At the end of the day, maybe there is as much latitude and disagreement on what is meant by "consensus" as for the word "mediocre".

Trying to pretend those voices in the first paragraph were even remotely on par with the other end is silly.  At the deadline, when extension talks hit the media, the factions were pretty clearly "seems about right" vs "80M is half what he'll get".  And the threads from then back it up.

A lot of offseason projections have been close, but there is plenty of crow to be had for those I referenced.

[Mike Sixel]

This is a great deal for the Twins. Like, much cheaper than I'd thought for sure.

Leaves plenty of room for a SP or two......

[MGM4706]

Wow! 100 million for a Part-time Center Fielder and ZERO for an Ace! Buxton can't catch balls going over the fence! That simple!

[LastOnePicked]

I've said "unreal" about the Twins over and over again over the last few years. Always in a negative way.

This time, it's in a very positive way.

It's a contract that won't kill the team payroll-wise if he never really is healthy. It won't even really hurt if he maxxes out incentives. Even if the worst-case scenarios happen, I will always be happy that a man with resilience + character like Byron Buxton got paid by the Twins.

I love this, Thank you, FO. Solid move. Now go get a few great starters and let's win this whole frickin' thing.

[DJL44]

Odds that Pineda re-signs by the end of the week?

[bean5302]

I'm not sure what to make of the signing and reasons behind it. It's clear there was huge pressure on the Twins to make this happen, but I don't think it happens if the trade market for him was hot with teams willing to offer the Twins elite prospects.

Those MVP bonuses could be huge, but Buxton has never finished above 16th in MVP voting in his career. Still, $15MM/yr for a 3 fWAR player isn't going to kill the team. There's always the outside chance Buxton becomes healthy and the contact becomes a real steal.

[Brandon]

So if we can sign a pitcher now before the lock out......  Perfect...... We would be set up to trade for a starter and sign a desperate pitcher at a cut rate due to spring training being underway..... Too bad Kluber signed already....

[Sousy]

WE GET BUXTON FOR CHRISTMAS!!

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

Imagine if he could stay on the field for 4 or 5 of those seasons!

[Richmond Dude]

Not only good for the Twins, but shows a lot of character in Buxton.  I'm sure he could have gotten more on the market, but although I'm a Vikings fan, I always respected that Tom Brady took lower contracts to ensure there was money left for the Patriots to sign players around him, Yes, baseball doesn't have a salary cap, but we all know there are realistic limits that each team will spend.  Buxton left space for the team to build a winner.   And if Buxton gets the serious payday from the bonuses, it means that not only was he healthy, but likely that we're winning, too.

[IndianaTwin]

And the good news for many Twins Daily readers is that they’ll be able to walk more comfortably tomorrow after getting their shorts unwadded. By my count, we had at least five posts with more than 200 comments in response to one article from Ken Rosenthal saying that unnamed executives were suggesting (hoping?) that the Twins would be trading him. 

I, too, hope there are some starting pitcher signings/trades, but I’ll choose to continuing walk comfortably for a couple more months. Can we at least stay calm on that one, folks?

[Doctor Gast]

Congratulations to Buck & FO! We are fortunate that Buck is a forgiving man and that he indeed wanted to stay in MN. God bless him. May he be able to max out his contract.

Now get the trading machine warmed up for starting pitching.

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

What specifically is a full no trade clause? Does it mean the Twins cannot trade Buck?

It means Buxton cannot be traded to anyone without Buxton's approval.

[ToriiRules!!]

49 minutes ago, Einheri said:

Trades.

Trades lol like who?? One of Oakland’s pitchers tell me who we are giving up because it’s gonna cost not only top prospects but also MLB ready talent

[Craig Arko]

Jake Cave, trade bait.

[beckmt]

2 hours ago, RonCoomersOPS said:

I'm curious what this means for Royce Lewis? Does the FO see him as a shortstop moving forward (meaning his recovery must be going very well) or is he now trade bait for some high-end pitching (Castillo? Montas?)?

Maybe he will become the everyday right fielder, replacing Kepler after next year

[KirbyDome89]

Literally no reason not to like this deal for the Twins. They're paying a guy who legitimately could win an MVP the same amount they paid for Happ + Colome last year. 

[jmlease1]

I love this deal for Twins fans. Byron Buxton will be in MN and not kicking butt for the Dodgers or the Mets or god only knows whom.

If Buxton is happy with it, then that's great for him. It gives him life-changing, generational wealth, which is terrific. I don't care about whether it costs ownership; the Pohlads are doing fine and will always do fine.

From a franchise perspective and being a team with more limits on payroll than some other teams, this is great too. Huge bonuses for MVP? Sure. If Byron Buxton wins an MVP, he'll deserve every penny of those multi-million bonuses and the club should be happy to pay it. I had assumed that the sticking point was escalators, not bonuses; if they were getting jammed up on stuff like this earlier in the summer then someone needs to give some wakeup calls to the FO, because good lord this is pretty ideal for the team. Sure, you don't have the same cost certainty when there could be a multi-million dollar bonus hanging out there, but a) if he wins it the revenues will probably be pretty strong, and b) you could simply escrow a year's potential bonus and wait on it if you're that concerned about payroll certainty. The PA bonuses are also ones that the team should be thrilled to pay, because if Buxton is on the field that much, then the potential $2.5M increase is worth it.

Byron Buxton could be the best player in all of baseball and the most we'll have to pay him will be like $25M. And with the way it's structured, this is a deal that's going to age really well.

But mostly, I'm just super happy that the most singularly exciting player in my Twins lifetime (and I'm not young) is staying with the team. Losing Byron Buxton because we wouldn't pay him a good, but under market contract would have been soul-crushing. He's one of our guys. We've seen him from the start, and there's something wonderfully joyous about having a player who combines such great skill with excitement and happiness be on your team for 10+ years of their career all the way from the start, and uniquely painful if they leave during their prime.

Today is a great day for Twins fans.

[Five minute major]

This is fantastic news.  This is a very fair contract for BOTH sides IMO.   I do hope Buck cashes in on all of those incentives!  

[jorgenswest]

Great news!

I wonder how the Twins account for the incentives in their budget. I guess this is something that might factor in more during the trade deadline (and their willingness to take on contracts) if he is healthy and likely to earn those incentives. 

[Reptevia]

I like it. Didn’t think he would agree. When a ****ty #3 starter gets $15M AAV, this is a good gamble. 

[wavedog]

This is wonderful  news to hear - kudos to Buxton for signing this deal and the Twins for getting it done.     Since both signings were announced today would you rather have Buxton signing for 7 years and $100M (plus incentives) for his age 28-34 seasons or Marcus Simien signing for 7 years and $175M at his age 31-37 seasons?    

[Brock Beauchamp]

4 minutes ago, wavedog said:

This is wonderful  news to hear - kudos to Buxton for signing this deal and the Twins for getting it done.     Since both signings were announced today would you rather have Buxton signing for 7 years and $100M (plus incentives) for his age 28-34 seasons or Marcus Simien signing for 7 years and $175M at his age 31-37 seasons?    

Buxton, and it’s not close.