It's Time: In 2026, Byron Buxton Needs to Move to Left Field

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I don't understand how it's so hard to work with the conditions that exist. Simply look at the roster you have to work with and position them. Did we have a better CF on the roster? Was Bader a better CF? I'll let others debate that. But if Bader is was a better CF. Why couldn't they play Bader in CF and Buxton move to a corner when Bader was placed into the lineup and let Buxton play CF when Bader wasn't in the lineup. This static position and static place in a batter order thing drives me crazy. There is nothing static about baseball players... they rise and fall and rise again like ocean tides, like hot and cold air. 

You staff a 26 man roster with the best players you have. The assessment of the best 26 players you have is not just a defensive assessment. It's offense, defense, it's everything that makes up the job of being a ball player. The search for better players needs to be constant, competitive and it needs to take in account offense, defense and everything that makes up the job of being a ball player. If Buxton plays some LF and some CF... it'll be alright. If he plays CF every day... it'll be alright.  

You look at your roster and you place them in the positions that make sense. Not only year by year or even month by month but the lineup you are putting out there every day. 

The Twins have achieved 100 wins only once since hitting the shores of Bloomington 64 years ago. That year was 2019. Jorge Polanco played 142 games at SS that year. Sano played 91 games at 3B that year. Arraez played 49 games at 2B and 21 games in LF that year. Mitch Garver played 82 games at Catcher that year. Astudillo turtled at catcher for 21 games, 15 games at 1B, 13 games at 3B and 8 games in the OF. It worked out OK. 

Enough fluff around the edges in regards to building a roster. Stop looking for specific positions... FIND PLAYERS period. Stop looking for specifics like right handed or left handed. Stop strip mining for parts... that's fluff around the edges. If you end up with 3 CF's on your roster that can play this game. That's good because you got 3 players who can play this game. If Jenkins, Erod and Buxton end up on the same roster and are all killing it. We are going to be OK. Thank your lucky stars that you have 3 talented CF'ers and then make out a lineup with them in it.  

The Twins are currently not in a position to hyper-focus on finding a CF to purposely and deliberately move Buxton to a corner. The Twins need to be hyper-focused on increasing overall talent on the roster period!

Buxton is a good CF... I'm sure he'd be great in a corner as well. Let the context around him make that determination or better yet... let performance on the field make the determinations.   

 

Amen, brother. 

I think our ‘26 outfield should be Buxton, Jenkins, Rodriguez, Gonzales, and Martin. Wallner as DH or a corner when injuries dictate. Let the kids occasionally play CF when Buck needs a day.
The accurately named Outman needs more time in St. Paul, so he should be 2 injuries away from the major league roster.

7 hours ago, DJL44 said:

If Bader couldn’t move Buxton to LF, I don’t see how Jenkins will.

Bader was here on a one-year contract, obviously with no guarantees that he would be with the team beyond 2025. Moving Buck to left field only to move him back in 2026 to accommodate Bader wasn't going to happen. Walker and maybe Rodriguez figure to be fixtures through the end of the decade beyond the length of Buxton's contract. Moving Buxton out of center to be replaced by a younger more durable CF would be doable.

7 hours ago, DJL44 said:

 

I did notice that Jenkins played center field when both he and Emma were in the outfield. I always understood that Rodriguez was a likely corner guy with the ability to play center (a la Kepler early in his career), but Jenkins would seem to be the total package.

The OP case that Buxton was falling off as a center fielder seems to be a matter of whose defensive stats are used. To my eyes, he's still very good but there are quite a number of guys who are equally as good and the few elite CFs are better.

Someone noted that Buxton has always used elite speed to make up for so-so reads and breaks on balls and that is still the case. I think he has learned to be a bit less reckless with his body and that takes away a few highlight reel catches in the course of a season. I also think that is an acceptable price to pay to keep Buxton on the field enough to get 500+ at bats.

9 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

It's ridiculous to put Buxton together with Rodon, Outman & CF in the same sentence. I'm not sure if Rodon or Outman should be playing much less in CF. I don't trust defensive stats, My eye tells me that we don't have anyone close to take Buxton's place in CF. It'd be a tremendous waste to put him in cOF. If we have a future CFer that might suffice there. The best teacher is to watch Buxton in CF. Twins' philosophy that defense is not important has to change if we ever want to compete again. We have to place the best defensive players at the premium positions CF, SS, C & 2B & keep them there to maximize our chances of winning our games. Putting Buxton in cOF counterdicts that idea.

I agree Doc, but I must add 3B as a key defensive position also. Lewis does fine there. 

Yes, Puckett moved to right field. 

In mid-1993, after Shane Mack had been on board for a season and a half.

Let Jenkins come on board somewhere in 2026. If he shows he’s the real deal and better than Buxton in CF by some time in 2027, then sure, make the change 

Until then, play Buxton in CF. 

3 hours ago, Bodie said:

Want to talk about bad OFs?  How about Wallner and his 151st best OF arm?  Bet you didn't know you could be 151st on any MLB OF list... (which, by the way ranks him 7 places behind Larnach!)

Where did you get this information? It doesn't jibe with stats for arm strength that list Wallner as elite and other ratings for range and defensive runs saved which put him as below average, but not dreadful. 

33 minutes ago, rdehring said:

If you follow my comments here since Wallner arrived, you will know that I have a problem with the Twins playing Wallner anywhere other than DH.  Not a huge fan of Larnach out there either, but would rather see him in the field than Wallner.  Yes, a lot of you have responded negatively to my Wallner comments, but I like to see outfielders that can get to most balls, like Kepler could before he also got old.

Specifically, according to BBRef, Wallner ranks as -3 runs in "Total Zone Total Runs Above Average in 80 games. In another rating he -5 in Defensive Runs Saved. These numbers are below average, but many players also fit in this category, including my favorite right fielder of this century Michael Cuddyer. In the last month or so, when I've watched the Twins, Wallner frankly hasn't looked very good in the field. I think many outfielders in the Twins plans for 2026 and beyond can do a better job than Wallner (or Larnach), but many OFs in MLB are in the same range.

10 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I hope the Twins have found their left fielder. Austin Martin has a 2 OAA and 3 DRS in 172 innings. His actual slash stats are very good and his expected stats even better.

This aged well. Martin may have, in fact, played his way into the Twins plans. An .800 OPS including a .400 OBP plays in MLB.

I’m not convinced about his defense or his base running, but the tools are there for him to be a good all around player.