Passan: Buxton Willing To Waive No-Trade Clause

[SF Twins Fan]

Honestly, this might be for the best.  The way this team is currently structured, they aren't going to be anywhere near the playoffs. 

I've enjoyed watching Buxton play but he's coming off one of his best overall seasons and his value will likely never be higher.  He's consistently injured and expecting him to replicate this previous season is like expecting to win the lottery.

If they can trade him, Lopez, and Ryan for AA, AAA, and MLB ready players - quality over quantity - that could be great.  The Mets would be the first team I'd call and ask about McLean, Benge, and Tong.

[Woof Bronzer]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

They casually announce news like this all the time because it isn't news yet.

In the article... Passan ranks Buxton as the 5th best trade consideration. Skubal #1

He also places the chances of the Twins trading Buxton at 35%.  

He places the chances of #1 Skubal being traded at 10%.

#5

35%

10%

Are all numbers made up by Passan. 

But someone is telling Passan this he's willing to do this, and this someone gave him this information on the record, so this someone is absolutely telling Passan for a reason.  Whether that is to startle the Twins to action, or to start down the path of a trade, who knows.  But this does seem like this is a bit more meaningful than your typical hot stove league rumblings.  

[Riverbrian]

10 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

But someone is telling Passan this he's willing to do this, and this someone gave him this information on the record, so this someone is absolutely telling Passan for a reason.  Whether that is to startle the Twins to action, or to start down the path of a trade, who knows.  But this does seem like this is a bit more meaningful than your typical hot stove league rumblings.  

I'm not questioning his sources. I have no reason to believe that Buxton wouldn't waive his no trade clause if the team fits his hopes and dreams. I also personally believe that inflexibility (will never waive it) is probably something nobody should ever do in any walk of life. 

What I'm saying is that a single sentence in an article ranking the 40 best players who are possible trade candidates doesn't mean we should start saying our goodbyes to Byron this morning.

Especially when the plugged in guy himself is listing the probability at 35%. 

[Battle ur tail off]

1 hour ago, howeda7 said:

If you are trading one of those 3, you might as well trade them all and have a $60 million payroll I guess. 

Agree, but then I fire Falvey and let someone else totally rebuild this thing...

[Battle ur tail off]

Here is the deal. If the Twins trade him, people around here aren't going to be happy with the return. He likely nets you a teams 5-10 ranked prospect, one other in the 20-30ish range and possibly a lottery ticket or salary dump. He's worth more to stay than he is to go. 

[Reptevia]

3 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

Do we truly burn it all down?  Pablo, Ryan, and Buxton - trade them all.    I thought they wanted to compete.  You trade those players you are throwing in the towel.   

You think they can compete WITH those players???🤣🤣🤣

[tony&rodney]

18 minutes ago, Battle ur tail off said:

Agree, but then I fire Falvey and let someone else totally rebuild this thing...

That would be the real beginning of a rebuild and a return to competitive baseball.

[Vanimal46]

Nick nailed it. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

4 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

And today Passan, the most plugged in guy, declaratively said Buxton is willing to waive it for Atlanta (specifics!) and other teams. 

I think people are confusing Jeff Passan with other rumormongers. Passan doesn't just write **** for funsies, he's the most legit source in baseball and is very careful with the things he says (and doesn't say).

A common statement around baseball is "I'll believe it when Passan tweets it", as in "it's not real until Jeff Passan confirms it".

[Vanimal46]

8 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I think people are confusing Jeff Passan with other rumormongers. Passan doesn't just write **** for funsies, he's the most legit source in baseball and is very careful with the things he says (and doesn't say).

A common statement around baseball is "I'll believe it when Passan tweets it", as in "it's not real until Jeff Passan confirms it".

Correct. He’s not a hot take for clicks type of guy. If he was merely speculating, he would have prefaced it as a question. 

[bean5302]

Buxton being willing to waive his NTC probably depends on what the Twins look like after winter meetings and the direction they're going towards the end of the month.

Baseball Trade Values has Buck at about +20 so like was posted above, he's not bringing back a haul on his own. In regard to what he's worth to the Twins, that probably depends on whether or not the Twins are blowing it up (if they trade Buxton, it's likely they are). Winning 65 games with Buxton vs. 60 games without him doesn't matter much.

[SteveLV]

My hope is that if they dump massive existing salaries via trade that they do their darndest to extend a BUNCH of the young players starting with Jenkins to those 8 year, $80M type contracts to lock them in for a long time.

That would give fans hope and direction for the franchise.

[howeda7]

Apparently the deal with the "minority investors" has hit a snag. Our only hope is that the other Pohlad's tell Joe to shove it and go back to selling the entire team. 

[howeda7]

1 hour ago, Battle ur tail off said:

Agree, but then I fire Falvey and let someone else totally rebuild this thing...

Firing Falvey is always a good idea.

[Dawgzilla]

The turnstiles won't be turning to much if Buck, Lopez or Ryan are traded, especially if all three are!!!!

 

MLB has a MAJOR "have" and "have nots" problem with payroll disparity, with the big markets always in the playoff hunt...not so much for small market, with few exceptions!  MLB is NOT fair at all!  Oh, the Dodgers are favored to win the World Series next year...... shocker.......NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chpettit19]

I don't know who this account is, but they credit Nightengale so I assume there's a little something there. But if you combine this with Passan's tweet, this doesn't seem good. Reduce the debt? I thought that's what the minority owners were here for? Or are they not happening now? 

If you trade one of these guys, trade them all. Bye bye Ryan, Lopez, Buxton, and Jeffers. No reason to keep any of them.

[Woof Bronzer]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

I'm not questioning his sources. I have no reason to believe that Buxton wouldn't waive his no trade clause if the team fits his hopes and dreams. I also personally believe that inflexibility (will never waive it) is probably something nobody should ever do in any walk of life. 

What I'm saying is that a single sentence in an article ranking the 40 best players who are possible trade candidates doesn't mean we should start saying our goodbyes to Byron this morning.

Especially when the plugged in guy himself is listing the probability at 35%. 

Oh for sure, I don't care about the rankings at all.  But the mere fact that someone close to Buxton wants it to be publicly known that he's open to a trade is pretty concerning. 

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, Battle ur tail off said:

Agree, but then I fire Falvey and let someone else totally rebuild this thing...

Too late by then. Falvey would have already traded away all your valuable pieces. That is the most important part of the rebuild. Falvey is dictating the next 5-10 years of Twins baseball right now. Has been since the deadline.

[bunsen82]

18 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't know who this account is, but they credit Nightengale so I assume there's a little something there. But if you combine this with Passan's tweet, this doesn't seem good. Reduce the debt? I thought that's what the minority owners were here for? Or are they not happening now? 

If you trade one of these guys, trade them all. Bye bye Ryan, Lopez, Buxton, and Jeffers. No reason to keep any of them.

If we still have the debt on the books and you are going to tank the salary to pay the debt off then Lopez is gone,  Buxton could be gone and then there is no reason to keep Ryan.   I hope this is really poorly informed info.  

[Woof Bronzer]

2 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't know who this account is, but they credit Nightengale so I assume there's a little something there. But if you combine this with Passan's tweet, this doesn't seem good. Reduce the debt? I thought that's what the minority owners were here for? Or are they not happening now? 

  I don't believe the Pohlads have ever used the phrase "minority owners" and I think a lot of fans are putting a lot of stock into these mythical saviors.  I suspect the limited partners are investors who will take the debt off the Twins' books to facilitate a quicker sale.  With or without these investors the Pohlads are going to have to pay down the debt though, which is why I believe the plan is to run shoestring payrolls and rake in the revenue/tv shares for a few years.  And the Pohlads may be getting a little nervous about the CBA throwing a wrench in this plan so I fear they are accelerating a bit.  The Athletic had an interesting article the other day about the Pirates and Marlins actually going after some free agents this offseason, the thought being that their owners are worried their lack of effort will be used as evidence to support a salary floor or reduced revenue share so they are trying to demonstrate that they are trying to win.  The Pohlads likely aren't willing to do that so you have to wonder what they are thinking right about now.  

[Riverbrian]

28 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Oh for sure, I don't care about the rankings at all.  But the mere fact that someone close to Buxton wants it to be publicly known that he's open to a trade is pretty concerning. 

Could be Buxton's agent. Could another team spilling the info.  

I have no idea but I'm willing to bet that Zoll and Falvey have fielded calls from teams interested in Buxton. If they have fielded calls from team interested in Byron. The no trade clause would have to be discussed or there is no discussion.  

So... If Byron is willing to waive it. The word is out.   

However... it still doesn't mean that Byron will waive it... he may not want to go to Cincinatti or that the Twins will trade him... or even get offered what they feel is a worthwhile offer. 

But... Yeah... I can hear "Mets on line one" Phillies on line two".  

[Russ]

Don't trade Buxton, Lopez or Ryan.  Don't trust the brain trust to get proper compensation for any of the 3.  Twins need to be overwhelmed, but still don't trust the decision makers who have bad development and evaluation skills..

[JADBP]

5 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Put yourself in Buxton's shoes. How excited are you to play another season with the Twins? At some point, for almost every major league athlete, one begins to crave a role on a team that is competitive. That ship sailed when the Twins failed to properly evaluate their roster and make proactive moves following the 2023 season. Buxton is the only Twins position player that has proven they can play at the MLB level. The rest of the team is pretty much speculative or hopeful of being average. I would be surprised if Byron has not had conversations with his family about this matter.

Passan may have heard something from someone but I doubt Buxton talked with him. Baseball has a protracted offseason and transactions are drawn out across the entire time. Thus writers, bloggers, and the like need to create material.

Naturally every Twins fan wants Buxton to remain a Minnesota Twin and have even better seasons each of the next three years. If you were Byron Buxton where would you want to play? 

A request by Byron to the Twins to trade him this offseason would rattle the front office. The main brains have been totally adverse to change. A Buxton trade would almost certainly necessitate further moves ..... except for the stubborn stance by someone. Maybe this is where the Pohlads can help the fans.

“At some point, for almost every major league athlete, one begins to crave a role on a team that is competitive. That ship sailed when the Twins failed to properly evaluate their roster and make proactive moves following the 2023 season”. 
 

NO!  That ship sailed after the ignorant Twins ran up nearly $500,000,000.00 in debt on the team!!!

[Julian Bernick]

No idea why the Twins don't trade Buxton and Ryan while they're close to max value.  Lopez was injured a lot, but is still a good deal if he does Pablo stuff for a mostly healthy 2026.  Would having 2-3 of those players get people to come to more games ?  Maybe if the Twins are .500 instead of .400...  but $20-$30 million worth?

The Twins are not going to compete in 2026 without acquiring some proven talent and spending a lot more.  Then there's a lockout coming and god knows how many games we get in 2027 or what the financial landscape is like (salary caps, floors, broadcast sharing, etc.)  As likely as not, Pohlads are going to fire Falvey & co. after that MLB-wide reset... why else would you run the same guys + Shelty (Rocco II) out there this year?

So you have 1 guaranteed lost year (2026) + 1 very iffy year (2027) and after that Buxton will be declining (and probably injured) and Pablo/Joe at the end of their contract/control...    so why wouldn't you try to cash in those chips for something to grow for 2028 & beyond?  No matter what the financial landscape is post-lockout, good young cheap controllable talent is what everyone will want.

[tony&rodney]

The CBA does not factor into any trade or roster decisions. There may be a lockout or not. The odds games are lost in May of 2027 are very low, about 3%. There are billions of dollars at stake and all losses will be to ownership with fan disgust causing residual financial issues, for ownership. Are you voting to lose money? Neither are the owners.

The potential loss of Buxton and others is a short term emotional problem unless the Twins totally bungle the transactions. In my opinion the July purge of the bullpen was a panic move with less than optimal preparation put into the negotiations. The Twins have had four months to prepare for current discussions.

Teams will be prepared to acquire Byron Buxton. He may not have the value of a Joe Ryan or Walker Jenkins. I don't envision Buck bringing back a top ten global prospect. He can return someone from beyond those top guys. BBTV may believe that Buxton and Ober have similar values but it seems probable that the Mets, Phillies, and others see them far differently. I have zero idea what the teams are willing to trade for Buxton, but (sticking with the Mets) I would guess that a Buxton for Carson Benge is possible. The Mets might be persuaded to add Ryan Clifford if several other teams are involved. 

[old nurse]

7 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

They casually announce news like this all the time because it isn't news yet.

In the article... Passan ranks Buxton as the 5th best trade consideration. Skubal #1

He also places the chances of the Twins trading Buxton at 35%.  

He places the chances of #1 Skubal being traded at 10%.

#5

35%

10%

Are all numbers made up by Passan. 

The numbers made up the reporting may have come from a team wanting to trade for him. Sort of like when the Joel Sherman reports on what the Twins want to do.  The possibility of for the clause being waved?  4/120. Like Passan, I picked numbers out of the air. It is not as messy as those who pull them from somewhere else

[Riverbrian]

2 minutes ago, old nurse said:

The numbers made up the reporting may have come from a team wanting to trade for him. Sort of like when the Joel Sherman reports on what the Twins want to do.  The possibility of for the clause being waved?  4/120. Like Passan, I picked numbers out of the air. It is not as messy as those who pull them from somewhere else

Yeah... If Byron is willing to waive the no trade clause. The front office would know because it's rather important information to any trade discussion. Can't have a serious conversation with the Red Sox if Byron isn't willing to be shipping up to Boston. 

Passan can pick up that type of information quite easily but it's quite possible the information is going to lack some nuance.  

 

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't know who this account is, but they credit Nightengale so I assume there's a little something there. But if you combine this with Passan's tweet, this doesn't seem good. Reduce the debt? I thought that's what the minority owners were here for? Or are they not happening now? 

If you trade one of these guys, trade them all. Bye bye Ryan, Lopez, Buxton, and Jeffers. No reason to keep any of them.

"Trying to figure out which one helps reduce the debt". One pitcher makes $22M and the other makes less than $6M. I think I can tell you which one helps reduce the debt more.

I still refuse to believe the debt is real. How could they possibly run up $100M in debt in one season with revenues over $300M and a player payroll less than $130M? Who is going to jail for embezzlement?

I think "the debt" is their excuse to slash and burn and make it seem like they were forced to do it. It's a deflection from having to rebuild because the front office failed to produce a contender.

[S Bart]

If he gets a chance to go back to his home state or to a team focused on winning and the Twins owner/GM continue to show no desire to improve the team, can anyone blame him for wanting to move?

[Blyleven2011]

8 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Put yourself in Buxton's shoes. How excited are you to play another season with the Twins? At some point, for almost every major league athlete, one begins to crave a role on a team that is competitive. That ship sailed when the Twins failed to properly evaluate their roster and make proactive moves following the 2023 season. Buxton is the only Twins position player that has proven they can play at the MLB level. The rest of the team is pretty much speculative or hopeful of being average. I would be surprised if Byron has not had conversations with his family about this matter.

Passan may have heard something from someone but I doubt Buxton talked with him. Baseball has a protracted offseason and transactions are drawn out across the entire time. Thus writers, bloggers, and the like need to create material.

Naturally every Twins fan wants Buxton to remain a Minnesota Twin and have even better seasons each of the next three years. If you were Byron Buxton where would you want to play? 

A request by Byron to the Twins to trade him this offseason would rattle the front office. The main brains have been totally adverse to change. A Buxton trade would almost certainly necessitate further moves ..... except for the stubborn stance by someone. Maybe this is where the Pohlads can help the fans.

1 out of 26  are capable of claiming to be a major leaguers from our position players , thats bad , very bad but our starting pitchers are a team strength as of now ...

besides buxton , someone should be able to find their upside and perform to an above average ...

Keaschall  , lewis and maybe Martin  on the current 26 man roster  ...

If buxton wants to go play for Atlanta or a winner , I wouldn't blame him one bit , but it's going to be alot worse than 2021 -22 and 2024 - 25 without him even if he was injured alot during those seasons , he brought value to the team ...

Will anyone go to the twins and watch them play at Target field , the diehards fans probably won't unless these players currently on the 26 man roster spark new life in their careers and our AAA and AA prospects live up to all the hype and can adjust to the major leagues  ...

I have a good feeling that our new coaches will have better results with the players in a new happier environment  without baldelli  ...

If buxton wants out , we'll probably hear something more conclusive during the winter meetings ,  than just rumors , meetings are in florida , i suggest buxton goes down there with his family for some fun in the sun  and also have a heart to heart talk with our FO personal ...