Waiting on the Window: Byron Buxton and Twins’ Complicated Timeline

[Original_JB]

22 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

First of all it is virtually impossible to know what value any player holds for another team. While fans see high value in their home team's players, other clubs may only be willing to trade excess prospects and/or suspect MLB guys for in any transactions. Secondly, we do not know what conversations have taken place between the Twins and any other teams. The speculation and guesses by folks, including the national writers, is at best just speculation and guesses. There is a relatively fair path to guesses based on past history.

The Twins made a significant splash when they traded Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez. Early on it was reported by Miami bloggers and then national press that the Marlins really wanted to discuss scenarios for reaching a deal to acquire Arraez. From early reports, public statements, and later articles it seemed pretty fair to say that the Marlins pushed that transaction. Twins Daily was split on the trade with many people incensed to lose the fan favorite batting champ. Likewise, Seattle was very open about wanting to acquire Jorge Polanco and that wish was stated for a couple of years before the Twins-Mariners trade. Most of Twins Daily saw that trade as favoring Minnesota with some disagreement. 

How does that affect  Byron Buxton? I believe it is fair to say that the Twins, in their current iteration (Falvey Era), want to field a team that has some chance to win games but building a strong roster is not and has not been a priority. The Twins do not gamble or go big, to steal from Tom P. The second part of Mr. Christie's question can also be guessed in a fair manner. The Twins have not been apt to make difficult decisions, but choose instead to watch time go by and hope for the best possible outcome. Sometimes that has worked out ok, such as with Coulombe, France, and Bader last year. It didn't result in wins but those guys did their jobs. Other times, luck has been more elusive. I see the Twins as risk adverse. There may be legitimate reasons for this and many on Twins Daily support that strategy of wait and hope for a new result with a similar cast of characters. 

Don't wait for any action on Byron Buxton and it isn't likely the team steps forward to buttress the team via big blockbuster trades or free agent pickups. An easy improvement that cost significant money might have been possible despite the low odds of success if the Twins wanted Imai. Whether Buck himself has a mood change is unknown. The Twins are rolling it back for now, or at least that is what it looks like from various comments from leadership. 

So, I guess the thing to do would be to search/measure the quantity of "Byron Buxton" articles, social media mentions, 'searches', chatter, etc. by location from around the U.S.+ and see where they aggregate the highest?

[tony&rodney]

1 minute ago, Original_JB said:

So, I guess the thing to do would be to search/measure the quantity of "Byron Buxton" articles, social media mentions, 'searches', chatter, etc. by location from around the U.S.+ and see where they aggregate the highest?

Not exactly positive what you are asking but my point is that "we" just don't have a clue where any player sits in terms of value. BBTV seeks to use a formula to assign a numeral of value. Many people then try to find relative numerical value. That is not ridiculous, it seems pretty natural. The chatter and comments across fandom, whether on blogs or from writers is simply speculative in nature with a goal of creating interest. You could say, to create clicks. Finding the mean, mode, or even a consensus, an aggregate, doesn't really make a difference in terms of assigning value or measuring anything. The only action that counts is an actual transaction. Josh Bell is worth $7M (2026 salary plus buyout of 2027 salary). 

On that note, one can wonder where Buxton stands on his firm stance of remaining a Twin versus his desire to play for a team that has a real chance to compete for a World Series ring. Does Byron believe the Twins are that team? The current roster and the timeline of Buck's contract don't seem to match up for a ring run. Additionally, one has to wonder if a few clubs chasing a trophy view Buxton as a potential key to their hopes for 2026. That has been the source of much speculation in terms of what would constitute the parts to any trade. It is certainly unclear on many fronts with a wide range of guesses swimming out in the deep end of the internet. 

The best guess is that the Twins do not act at all. An aggregate likely measures nothing and nobody should be surprised by any outcome. 

Byron Buxton looked pretty healthy last year. He is fast, strong, and beginning to look as if his experience at the plate makes him a constant threat; Buck is getting better. Having zero knowledge of how any team views Buxton, I'm guessing that several teams would gamble a huge package of prospects well beyond BBTV values. Others disagree, which only means it is impossible to know how Buxton and the Twins line up, much less other clubs.

[Twodogs]

I don't think the Twins will really ever compete as long as Falvey is in charge.  He is the one who continues to roll out the 82 - 80 projection type teams and slowly allows decent prospects to rot in the minors while paying for Ty France types.  The Twins really need to cut the cord and go young.  To see if these guys can develop into the next core.  Rolling out a squad that is projected as an 80 win team only holds the future back.  It would be different to hold the future back if they went all in on free agency that would be different, moves like that could start a whole other discussion about what is the right or wrong move.  But they don't.  They sign Josh Bell, I hope he hits .270 with 30 bombs, but I know how that'll probably end up.  Falvey continues to roll out mediocre teams in hopes that one of those teams catches lightning in a bottle, makes a run in the playoffs and then he can say, see!!! I told you guys im the smartest baseball guy around and that all of my calls are the right ones.  If they go young and bring up the next core, which probably means giving up for a year or two while those young kids figure it out would mean that Falvey would have to admit that he has been wrong this whole time.  He will never do that.  So the Twins will continue to sign Josh Bell types along with a washed up relief pitcher or two.  Dont get me wrong, one of the 2 or 3 washed up relievers always has a career year and gets us filled with a little bit of hope.  But the squad is always a little bit flawed, and the flaws always start at the top.  

[Twodogs]

10 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Not exactly positive what you are asking but my point is that "we" just don't have a clue where any player sits in terms of value. BBTV seeks to use a formula to assign a numeral of value. Many people then try to find relative numerical value. That is not ridiculous, it seems pretty natural. The chatter and comments across fandom, whether on blogs or from writers is simply speculative in nature with a goal of creating interest. You could say, to create clicks. Finding the mean, mode, or even a consensus, an aggregate, doesn't really make a difference in terms of assigning value or measuring anything. The only action that counts is an actual transaction. Josh Bell is worth $7M (2026 salary plus buyout of 2027 salary). 

On that note, one can wonder where Buxton stands on his firm stance of remaining a Twin versus his desire to play for a team that has a real chance to compete for a World Series ring. Does Byron believe the Twins are that team? The current roster and the timeline of Buck's contract don't seem to match up for a ring run. Additionally, one has to wonder if a few clubs chasing a trophy view Buxton as a potential key to their hopes for 2026. That has been the source of much speculation in terms of what would constitute the parts to any trade. It is certainly unclear on many fronts with a wide range of guesses swimming out in the deep end of the internet. 

The best guess is that the Twins do not act at all. An aggregate likely measures nothing and nobody should be surprised by any outcome. 

Byron Buxton looked pretty healthy last year. He is fast, strong, and beginning to look as if his experience at the plate makes him a constant threat; Buck is getting better. Having zero knowledge of how any team views Buxton, I'm guessing that several teams would gamble a huge package of prospects well beyond BBTV values. Others disagree, which only means it is impossible to know how Buxton and the Twins line up, much less other clubs.

I bet the Dodgers would like to have Buxton?

[tony&rodney]

19 minutes ago, Twodogs said:

I bet the Dodgers would like to have Buxton?

They are one of about 4-5 teams that I believe would pay a huge ransom in prospects. 

[Fatbat]

‘26 is going to be a disaster if they don’t move on from 6-8 AAAA types. We better hope for a 1982/83 type rookie class that comes in and mashes and plays spectacular D by August. The current roster just sucks. 

[Major League Ready]

19 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

First FanGraphs is one of the least accurate and dependable baseball analysts.  Second why is the Buxton contract considered "team friendly?"  If you just took 2025 then yes he was under paid for THAT season.  But what about all the other years where he only plaid half or slightly more of a season.  We could call them " player friendly" for being a part time player.  I mean really the Twibs paid him $100 million dollars for a part time player.  As I recall I don't think they held a gun to Buxtons head to make him sign.  He obviously thought the deal was good enough and he signed it.  As this season approaches it looks like another "run it back" philosophy that has failed.  I hope all these over hyped prospects do pan out.  Ive been waiting for good baseball for quite sometime.  Maybe the question will be will anyone attend the games at beautiful Target Field.

Baseball Reference and FanGraphs have Buxton at the exact same WAR of 9.2 for the last 3 years which is the period of time his salary went to $15M.  That's just under $5M/Year which would be pretty good if he were signed as a FA.  It's certainly a lot better than Correa who produced 6.5 bWAR and 8.2 fWAR for 2.29X Buxton's salary.   

[Linus]

When they blew up the bullpen at the trade deadline I wasn’t on board. I thought they were a couple bats way from being a good team. But I thought, well they don’t believe in the lineup and are going to blow it up which I would understand. Then they said they were not blowing it up and were going to build on this roster. This I didn’t like because I don’t believe you can rebuild a bullpen that quickly but whatever. Go get a couple bats at first base and left field and see what you can do. Then they tender Larnach and sign Bell which doesn’t move the needle at all. In summary I have no idea what they are doing from a baseball perspective. If they catch lightning in a bottle they can win some games. Most likely they win 77 games the next two years and waste the trade value of Ryan, Lopez and Jeffers. I believe their plan (whatever it is) is not being driven by baseball priorities. They are saying they are all in but Tom Pohlad basically admitted they are not when he commented that this isn’t the right time to invest higher payroll in this lineup. An old saying comes to mind: Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining. 

[KirbyDome89]

On 12/31/2025 at 8:23 PM, TNtwins85 said:

That’s pretty off base. He’s at least a decent utility INF. Polanco wasn’t a good SS either and there’s a reason Willi Castro was signed as a 25 year old FA. If he can improve enough to make the plays he should make as a young Castro could and provide even a sliver of what Polanco did with the bat as a SS he’ll be fine. He’s not far off if he improves even moderately. The 16 bombs is a very positive sign and he passed the eye test defensively at the end of the season. You don’t need a prime Correa at SS to win. You do need consistency and competence. He’s not that far off. What worries me is the lack of another reliable hitter. That should be Lewis. Does he take the next step? It’s time for Lewis to take that step or be relegated to bust territory. Lee was never gonna be an AS out of the gate. That expectation was always unrealistic. Even when he hit .330 at AAA. I believe he’ll be just fine at SS. If he hits to even half his potential.

Brooks Lee the AS? Can we get a season where he isn't sub replacement level before we start comparing him to guys who were actually productive? 

[laloesch]

On 12/31/2025 at 1:01 PM, bean5302 said:

If the Twins are committed to a World Series attempt, they need to be in obvious build mode. They're not right now. This is not a team for which expectations of .500 ball or playoffs, let alone a potential World Series run is reasonable. The team's on the field product resembles a team at the tail end of a rebuild, the point at which a team identifies what they've got and what they need to build.

What they've got as playoff caliber guys right now. Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez. 

What they've got as respectable every day players who aren't going to lift the team, but they shouldn't be concerned about upgrading. Ryan Jeffers.

After that, it's debatable whether or not they've got guys who will hold the team back, tread water or push the team into the playoffs. That's 22 other positions on the opening day roster which are question marks.

The Twins running out a status quo team is reckless and inconsistent with Tom Pohlad's comments.

The Twins don't have a prayer of making a world series attempt in the next 5 seasons. Let's be completely honest with each other and expectations.  NOBODY is beating the Dodgers until at least 2030 unless they have a payroll upwards of 250 million and a DEEP roster of good players.  The Blue Jays are close and are adding more to try and get that depth which cost them the 2025 world series in my opinion. The Twins don't even have a legit 1st basemen let alone a full infield of good positional players and the bullpen yikes.  Just saying.  

[laloesch]

15 hours ago, Linus said:

When they blew up the bullpen at the trade deadline I wasn’t on board. I thought they were a couple bats way from being a good team. But I thought, well they don’t believe in the lineup and are going to blow it up which I would understand. Then they said they were not blowing it up and were going to build on this roster. This I didn’t like because I don’t believe you can rebuild a bullpen that quickly but whatever. Go get a couple bats at first base and left field and see what you can do. Then they tender Larnach and sign Bell which doesn’t move the needle at all. In summary I have no idea what they are doing from a baseball perspective. If they catch lightning in a bottle they can win some games. Most likely they win 77 games the next two years and waste the trade value of Ryan, Lopez and Jeffers. I believe their plan (whatever it is) is not being driven by baseball priorities. They are saying they are all in but Tom Pohlad basically admitted they are not when he commented that this isn’t the right time to invest higher payroll in this lineup. An old saying comes to mind: Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining. 

Very astute assessment.  The Pohlads are not going to increase payroll anytime soon.  This team was supposedly running a 40 million dollar yearly deficit the past few years.  With the new partial investors in place you can bet your yearly salary that they are gonna be looking at the bottom line for at least the next 4-5 seasons to recoup that investment and make sure they make a profit.  I hope it doesn't get as bad as the Pittsburg Nutting ownership, but I'm not hopeful.  I agree with another poster here.  I think they sell the team after 2027/2028 seasons once the strike is over (however long it lasts) and a real salary cap is finally in place.

[Twinsrtheworst]

On 12/31/2025 at 11:23 AM, tony&rodney said:

First of all it is virtually impossible to know what value any player holds for another team. While fans see high value in their home team's players, other clubs may only be willing to trade excess prospects and/or suspect MLB guys for in any transactions. Secondly, we do not know what conversations have taken place between the Twins and any other teams. The speculation and guesses by folks, including the national writers, is at best just speculation and guesses. There is a relatively fair path to guesses based on past history.

The Twins made a significant splash when they traded Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez. Early on it was reported by Miami bloggers and then national press that the Marlins really wanted to discuss scenarios for reaching a deal to acquire Arraez. From early reports, public statements, and later articles it seemed pretty fair to say that the Marlins pushed that transaction. Twins Daily was split on the trade with many people incensed to lose the fan favorite batting champ. Likewise, Seattle was very open about wanting to acquire Jorge Polanco and that wish was stated for a couple of years before the Twins-Mariners trade. Most of Twins Daily saw that trade as favoring Minnesota with some disagreement. 

How does that affect  Byron Buxton? I believe it is fair to say that the Twins, in their current iteration (Falvey Era), want to field a team that has some chance to win games but building a strong roster is not and has not been a priority. The Twins do not gamble or go big, to steal from Tom P. The second part of Mr. Christie's question can also be guessed in a fair manner. The Twins have not been apt to make difficult decisions, but choose instead to watch time go by and hope for the best possible outcome. Sometimes that has worked out ok, such as with Coulombe, France, and Bader last year. It didn't result in wins but those guys did their jobs. Other times, luck has been more elusive. I see the Twins as risk adverse. There may be legitimate reasons for this and many on Twins Daily support that strategy of wait and hope for a new result with a similar cast of characters. 

Don't wait for any action on Byron Buxton and it isn't likely the team steps forward to buttress the team via big blockbuster trades or free agent pickups. An easy improvement that cost significant money might have been possible despite the low odds of success if the Twins wanted Imai. Whether Buck himself has a mood change is unknown. The Twins are rolling it back for now, or at least that is what it looks like from various comments from leadership. 

Wondering if you have a link to the reports stating Miami pushed for the trade.  Any specific source other than bloggers and general national media.  Like a specific source.

[tony&rodney]

16 minutes ago, se7799 said:

Wondering if you have a link to the reports stating Miami pushed for the trade.  Any specific source other than bloggers and general national media.  Like a specific source.

Feel free to Google it. 

[Twinsrtheworst]

8 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Feel free to Google it. 

Oh how kind of you.  I once informed you Payton Eeles was hurt, just to stop you from asking were he was constantly.  Once I reported it to you, your first question was my source.  So fair enough, do not ask me for my sources again please.  So you want people to share our sources…. But you are unable to. Makes sense.

[Twinsrtheworst]

On 12/31/2025 at 11:23 AM, tony&rodney said:

First of all it is virtually impossible to know what value any player holds for another team. While fans see high value in their home team's players, other clubs may only be willing to trade excess prospects and/or suspect MLB guys for in any transactions. Secondly, we do not know what conversations have taken place between the Twins and any other teams. The speculation and guesses by folks, including the national writers, is at best just speculation and guesses. There is a relatively fair path to guesses based on past history.

The Twins made a significant splash when they traded Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez. Early on it was reported by Miami bloggers and then national press that the Marlins really wanted to discuss scenarios for reaching a deal to acquire Arraez. From early reports, public statements, and later articles it seemed pretty fair to say that the Marlins pushed that transaction. Twins Daily was split on the trade with many people incensed to lose the fan favorite batting champ. Likewise, Seattle was very open about wanting to acquire Jorge Polanco and that wish was stated for a couple of years before the Twins-Mariners trade. Most of Twins Daily saw that trade as favoring Minnesota with some disagreement. 

How does that affect  Byron Buxton? I believe it is fair to say that the Twins, in their current iteration (Falvey Era), want to field a team that has some chance to win games but building a strong roster is not and has not been a priority. The Twins do not gamble or go big, to steal from Tom P. The second part of Mr. Christie's question can also be guessed in a fair manner. The Twins have not been apt to make difficult decisions, but choose instead to watch time go by and hope for the best possible outcome. Sometimes that has worked out ok, such as with Coulombe, France, and Bader last year. It didn't result in wins but those guys did their jobs. Other times, luck has been more elusive. I see the Twins as risk adverse. There may be legitimate reasons for this and many on Twins Daily support that strategy of wait and hope for a new result with a similar cast of characters. 

Don't wait for any action on Byron Buxton and it isn't likely the team steps forward to buttress the team via big blockbuster trades or free agent pickups. An easy improvement that cost significant money might have been possible despite the low odds of success if the Twins wanted Imai. Whether Buck himself has a mood change is unknown. The Twins are rolling it back for now, or at least that is what it looks like from various comments from leadership. 

Well, you asked me to google it.  You had no source,.  Makes me wonder.  I’m guessing you share a lot of reckless speculation.  It was actually the Twins whom pushed and approached the Marlins initially.  Next time just say you don’t have a source.  Be honest.@tony&rodney

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

If Buxton wants to be a Twin for life, I feel the team should make that happen. It may be an old school way of thinking, but far too often nowadays great players are traded or let go for "business reasons". As a Twins fan, I've been lucky enough to see a few great players spend their entire career with the Twins in Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, and Joe Mauer. It would great to see Buxton join them on that list. 

[tony&rodney]

4 hours ago, se7799 said:

Oh how kind of you.  I once informed you Payton Eeles was hurt, just to stop you from asking were he was constantly.  Once I reported it to you, your first question was my source.  So fair enough, do not ask me for my sources again please.  So you want people to share our sources…. But you are unable to. Makes sense.

Sorry I hurt your feelings. Didn't mean to be a bad person. 

I remember wondering what happened to Eeles. I had looked in various places and more wondered where the information was. I surely wasn't irritated, just curious. I won't ask you questions. This is the first time I have noticed a comment of yours and I'm sorry you were hurt. I should work on my wording. I did Google the trade today and up came an article quoting GM Ng and the Marlins pursuit of Arraez. I also knew someone who worked for the Marlins in the past who had discussed their interest in acquiring Luis. In any event - Happy New Year.

[David Maro]

Let's be realistic it doesn't matter who is playing if you're BP is empty. As of now they have 4 arms there. The SP after Ryan and Lopez find it difficult to make 5 innings. And yes Ober is still there,but he hasn't looked right for awhile. It looks like they think Festa,Abel and Bradley will be BP pieces. Looking at the division this is a last place team hoping that things go wrong for the others.

[Twinsrtheworst]

12 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Sorry I hurt your feelings. Didn't mean to be a bad person. 

I remember wondering what happened to Eeles. I had looked in various places and more wondered where the information was. I surely wasn't irritated, just curious. I won't ask you questions. This is the first time I have noticed a comment of yours and I'm sorry you were hurt. I should work on my wording. I did Google the trade today and up came an article quoting GM Ng and the Marlins pursuit of Arraez. I also knew someone who worked for the Marlins in the past who had discussed their interest in acquiring Luis. In any event - Happy New Year.

I am not hurt first of all.  I’m sorry you feel that way.  This isn’t the first comment of mine you read, unless multiple people use your username.  But yes, if you ask for a source of others, it should stand to reason it would be ok to ask for your source.  I’m sorry you were given bad information though about the trade.  If I share something on here, I try to share facts and not speculatation.  I don’t believe much I read on the internet and I’m sorry but the trade started with Lopez being made available the season prior.  The Twins approached th Marlins about him, and yes the Marlins then asked for Arraez.  Twins agreed and asked for the two minor leaguers as well.  Done deal.  I rarely trust any blogger to have the facts right, because they are usually just quoting another blogger. You know rumors and misinformation spread much faster than truth or actual facts. But once again that’s me.  In the past including the Payton news, I speak with the player himself and only share with their permission.  Which was the case with Payton. You have a happy New Year also in 2026.