Byron Buxton Agrees to a Contract Extension with the Twins

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

All y'all eating crow tonight?

Possibly, I’m at Buffalo Wild Wings.

[Heiny]

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but if Buxton gets 625 PA every year and wins the MVP award every year,  the Twins will pay him a total of 173.5 million dollars over the course of the contract.  That would come to approximately 24.75M per year for a MVP winner 7 consecutive years.   LOL.  Team friendly you say.  Oh yeah.

[TNTwinsFan]

I hope Buck earns every dime of that $25.5m every year.

[Heiny]

2 minutes ago, Heiny said:

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but if Buxton gets 625 PA every year and wins the MVP award every year,  the Twins will pay him a total of 173.5 million dollars over the course of the contract.  That would come to approximately 24.75M per year for a MVP winner 7 consecutive years.   LOL.  Team friendly you say.  Oh yeah.

On the other hand, if he never gets another PA in his career,  he still makes 100M.  Yeah, I'll still take my chances with the Pohlad's money.

[tony&rodney]

Yes. Step #1 is complete. Time to take a nap and then get busy talking to Oakland, Miami, and Milwaukee.I don't think other teams have as much to offer as the Twins. The future is now; great signing.

[TheLeviathan]

27 minutes ago, Heiny said:

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but if Buxton gets 625 PA every year and wins the MVP award every year,  the Twins will pay him a total of 173.5 million dollars over the course of the contract.  That would come to approximately 24.75M per year for a MVP winner 7 consecutive years.   LOL.  Team friendly you say.  Oh yeah.

Yes.  He could also continue to play 40% of the time and the deal is a failed gamble.  It is an entirely plausible scenario that we look back in remorse at this.

But the right attitude is to look at weighing the upside vs downside.  Both are very real, but the gamble is worth it IMO.

[HerbieFan]

4 hours ago, mnfireman said:

Now let's see him penciled into the #2 spot 145 games a year for the length of the contract (allows for 1 IL trip). 

Heck, I'd be happy with 2 trips and 130 games?

[DJL44]

20 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Yes.  He could also continue to play 40% of the time and the deal is a failed gamble. 

I think it's break-even if he plays 60% of the games.

[USAFChief]

17 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

  It is an entirely plausible scenario that we look back in remorse at this.

You maybe, but not "we."

 

There is no chance I look back on this with remorse. None. There is absolutely NOTHING the Twins could have done with $100m this offseason that would have been money better spent. 

If Buxton never gets another PA, I won't complain. 

[TheLeviathan]

You won't have remorse that Buxton couldn't live out that contract or be what we hoped he could be?  That sounds implausible.  We could look back in 5 years, not with remorse that we did it, but with remorse that it didn't work.  

I would hope any Twins fan would be upset that we never get another PA out of Buxton.  That's demonstrably bad for us as fans, for the team, and for Buxton himself.

You can acknowledge downside or failure in a move without regretting the decision.  Those are not mutually exclusive.

[TheLeviathan]

8 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I think it's break-even if he plays 60% of the games.

Depending upon his production I think that's very plausible.  It's partly why I'm so in favor of the gamble.

[tony&rodney]

We are looking at crystal balls into the future play of Byron Buxton, all due to the injuries and games missed. His talent is unmistakeable and irreplaceable though and my bet is taking the over at 130 games per year for the contract. I love that Buxton bet on himself with incentives. The Twins must be thrilled and the teams reportedly in discussions to acquire Buxton must be bummed.  

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, Richmond Dude said:

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.

If Buxton was worth high dollars on the open market, teams would have been offering the Twins something good to trade and Buxton would have been shipped. Nobody really wanted Buxton that bad outside the Twins.

[Steve71]

This is wonderful news for the fans, for Buxton and his family and their financial future, and for the team.

My favorite feature in the full no trade clause.  This reinforces that Buxton was absolutely truthful in his stated desire to remain with the Twins for his career.  What a wonderful Holiday present for all of us.

[Wilco1]

Thank you Buck, it’s gonna be fun to watch twins games for the next 7 years. Win or lose, to be treated to watch you play baseball will bring joy to twins fans everywhere.??

[roger]

Now, get the new hitting coach to teach Kepler how to bunt and go the other way.  Arraez, Polanco, Buxton, Donaldson, Kirilloff, Garver and the Sanó we saw at year’s end can be one hell of a lineup.  

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

Possibly, I’m at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Rat and roadkill possum also can not be completely ruled out.

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

If Buxton was worth high dollars on the open market, teams would have been offering the Twins something good to trade and Buxton would have been shipped. Nobody really wanted Buxton that bad outside the Twins.

Thats nothing close to a reasonable equation.

[Twodogs]

I'm really glad the Twins brought Buck back.  Hopefully they keep the rest of the band around and go out and get a good pitcher to go along with the young up and coming pitchers.

[twinstalker]

53 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Yes.  He could also continue to play 40% of the time and the deal is a failed gamble.  It is an entirely plausible scenario that we look back in remorse at this.

But the right attitude is to look at weighing the upside vs downside.  Both are very real, but the gamble is worth it IMO.

40% of the time at the level he's at now is just about worth the $15 million.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

If Buxton was worth high dollars on the open market, teams would have been offering the Twins something good to trade and Buxton would have been shipped. Nobody really wanted Buxton that bad outside the Twins.

Who knows about the rumors (see the copy/paste below), but I am feeling it was very likely that a number of teams were talking with the Twins and had their hopes up. Buxton is a rare talent. Byron took a bet on himself signing for incentives. A good deal all around.

According to informed sources, The Marlins were in on trading for Byron Buxton right up until he signed the deal to stay with the Twins.. The Marlins made a “strong” trade offer, but not one that could persuade the Twins to part with the center fielder. The Marlins could have matched the terms of the Twins ’ financial commitment should their trade efforts been successful. The Marlins weren’t the only team to be interested. - FWIW - mlbtraderumors

 

[dxpavelka]

7 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I'm surprised about so many of the aspects of this contract. First, that the Twins were able to convince him to accept big MVP bonuses and not plate appearance bonuses, ensuring that performance, not health, will escalate the contract. Second, no opt out or anything, full no-trade clause (good for Buck!).

Remember, Buxton *should* be a free agent *right now* but the front office hosed him very intentionally. Byron appears to be a very forgiving man and we should all be thankful for it. This is a very team-friendly contract.

I'm hearing there are PA bonuses too starting at half a million for 502 and going up in half million increments topping out at $2.5 million for 625 PA

[USAFChief]

3 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

You won't have remorse that Buxton couldn't live out that contract or be what we hoped he could be?  That sounds implausible.  We could look back in 5 years, not with remorse that we did it, but with remorse that it didn't work.  

I would hope any Twins fan would be upset that we never get another PA out of Buxton.  That's demonstrably bad for us as fans, for the team, and for Buxton himself.

You can acknowledge downside or failure in a move without regretting the decision.  Those are not mutually exclusive.

I'd certainly be sad if Buxton gets hurt. 

That has zero to do with "remorse" over the contract. I won't feel any differently about it even in the extreme possibility he never gets another PA.

They HAD to sign him, he signed for a bargain, and I'm really glad they worked it out. It's a fantastic outcome for my favorite club. Nothing will change that.

[Mike Sixel]

11 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I'd certainly be sad if Buxton gets hurt. 

That has zero to do with "remorse" over the contract. I won't feel any differently about it even in the extreme possibility he never gets another PA.

They HAD to sign him, he signed for a bargain, and I'm really glad they worked it out. It's a fantastic outcome for my favorite club. Nothing will change that.

Agreed. It was the right decision. I guess we could be disagreeing over the pedantic meaning of regret.

If only we could, as Chief is, enjoy them doing what most of us wanted, and not get all, something, about the future...

[flpmagikat]

Love love love this deal. It's more than I would have given him at the break, but dude just keeps bringing it. And like someone mentioned above, I love him betting on himself getting those all star votes. im not a gambling man, but he's going to reach some of those incentives. it'd be more bizarre that he stayed healthy for a whole season than not activate one of his incentives. 

 

Woo woo! Start of the offseason

 

Oh yeah, December is the day after tomorrow. And then baseball goes into a kinda void, but I hope the women and men that write here keep making interesting stuff for us.

 

Gracias dios. Vamos!

[DuluthFan]

I would like to see the Twins sign an elite pitcher with pitching bonuses structured similarly.

 

[AlwaysinModeration]

8 hours ago, Heiny said:

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but if Buxton gets 625 PA every year and wins the MVP award every year,  the Twins will pay him a total of 173.5 million dollars over the course of the contract.  That would come to approximately 24.75M per year for a MVP winner 7 consecutive years.   LOL.  Team friendly you say.  Oh yeah.

In the scenario you describe, Buxton plays full-time for the next seven years and wins seven MVPs.

From 2015 to 2021, Mike Trout won 3 MVP awards while earning $187mm guaranteed (including his last couple of arbitration years, I believe), with the Angels on the hook for a massive guaranteed contract for him at $37mm/year for the next decade or so.

So yeah, seven consecutive MVPs at $25mm per year, with no financial commitment beyond those MVP years is VERY team friendly.

We should be so lucky that Buck achieves all of those incentives.  He will have out-performed Trout at his peak.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Another possible player to look at would be ARod.  From 2003 to 2009 (age 27-33) he won three MVP awards while earning $175mm guaranteed.  From 2004 to 2009 he only won two MVPs while earning $186mm, and he was locked in to long-term guarantees at $33mm/year through 30s.

If Buck wins 2-3 MVP awards, the deal will be a huge steal without the typical albatross contract accompanying that kind of performance.

[TL]

That no-trade is also a good move on Buxton's part to protect himself against the Twins deciding to trade a very team-friendly contact for a big return a few years in. He could demand a restructuring, which sort of gives him an opt out in the event the Twins aren't competitive (despite his performance) and are considering a rebuild.

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

I'm hearing there are PA bonuses too starting at half a million for 502 and going up in half million increments topping out at $2.5 million for 625 PA

Yeah, there are, what surprised me is that they start at 500 PAs and not something like 300 PAs, which definitely favors the Twins over Buxton (like pretty much everything in this contract does).