Should a Return to Designated Hitter Be in the Plans for Byron Buxton?

34 minutes ago, Andy MacPhail said:

DH isn't a position where anybody can just be proficient at. Players who are deficient at defense can often embrace DHing. But IMO those, especially those who take pride in their glove, have difficulty adjusting to sitting on the bench & come in cold to have good productive ABs. So, besides not contributing on the field, his bat takes a hit (pun not intended). So no to DHing for Buck until he says so. Only he knows when or if to make that transition.

This is very true.  Maybe a few discussions with Molitor would be beneficial when the time comes.  Few players made the transition better, and much like Buxton frequent injuries were a large part of the reason Molitor was mostly a DH in his 30s.

Buck hit 25 bombs and put up a 3.3 WAR in only 93 games for the Twins this season.  Name another Twin, right now, that has ever done that.  I mean we can sit here and say Walker Jenkins "could" hit 25 bombs, Rodriguez or Gonzalez "could" do well, but none of them ever have, and until multiple of these guys actually put up the numbers to force Buck out I'd quit trying to say that there is anyone better than him.  Now like I said, if someone comes along and next season is out hitting him or out fielding him then make a move.  But you dont push Buck aside until someone forces the issue and hitting OK at AAA doesn't count.  I mean look what Royce Lewis did when he went down to AAA??

Absolutely not.

Buxton is still one of the fastest players in the league. Taking him and his still high end defense off the field is just plain dumb. 

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Well, this is about baseball stats. And AI is factually wrong,a lot. .

.224. took about thirty seconds to go there, enter Buxtons name, and filter by position. 

Whether you research it on AI or on Fangraphs the result supports the same conclusion:  He has not been a good hitter with RISP for his career.  

Move him to RF (if he is still with the team).   Have him fill in in CF and DH a time or two each week.  Make sure the rest of the league knows that despite Buxton's stated wish to remain with the Twins; the Twins will take calls and listen to trade inquiries.

Keaschall in LF (weaker arm), Jenkins in CF, Rodriguez in RF, Buxton as DH is my preferred OF alignment in 2027.  Buck can mix in CF and Keaschall can DH...Jenkins/Rodriguez can fill the other two spots.  I guess Jenkins or Emma could DH as well if they need a lighter day.

On 9/14/2026 at 1:32 PM, bean5302 said:

It's like people are convinced playing center field is the equivalent of a hard core gym workout. Mostly, it's standing out there, a jog in and out of the dugout between innings. There are maybe 3 sprints a game for the average center fielder, along with an occasional light job to field a routine fly.

Our pitching staff will differ on that opinion. He will need to sprint at least once an inning. Laughing at myself for the comment

22 hours ago, Jacksson said:

Move him to RF (if he is still with the team).   Have him fill in in CF and DH a time or two each week.  Make sure the rest of the league knows that despite Buxton's stated wish to remain with the Twins; the Twins will take calls and listen to trade inquiries.

Again all Buxton will do is veto the trade, he has that right as you well know.  Get used to him being here for at least another two years.

On 9/15/2026 at 4:27 PM, ashbury said:

I dislike DH'ing Buxton on a regular basis, for at least three reasons.  One, we tried it in 2023 and he had his worst season at bat since establishing himself.  Two, he gets injured even when not on defense - 2023 again being an example since he landed on the IL twice. And third, it's waving a white flag of surrender in advance of battle - when he's healthy enough to play CF he's one of the more valuable players in the majors and I'm unwilling to give up on that potential even after this many years.

"Injured" gets treated like some kind of on-off or yes-no switch on a game console.  The reality is that anyone's injury is on some scale of severity (and of course injuries to different body parts affect the parts of a players game in different ways).  A step up from yes-no would be a percent of capability (still a vast oversimplification), and that's where the calculus for Buxton differs from most players.  If Ryan Kreidler is banged up so that he's, say, at 85% effectiveness, you just IL him - he's not a major league player in any sense if he's reduced at all.  Buxton, OTOH, might be better at 85% than, say, the OutMan at 100%.

But in addition to the points in the above paragraph, the other flaw in most analyses is that the actual effect of many injuries, on a player's game effectiveness, is simply unknowable.  85% like I alluded to above is BS (I picked those digits for the similarity 😄).  The player himself can't tell you, the medical staff or trainer can't tell you, nobody can with any certainty unless there is a bone fragment sticking up through a guy's shin area.  Buxton will tell the manager or physical therapist, "I'm hurting, but I can play."  He's not a liar and he's not stupid - he simply doesn't know, in a lot of cases, exactly how the way he feels will affect things in the heat of battle. Sometimes he'll say, "I can't go today. But I've been through this before and maybe tomorrow?" Again, he's not a liar and he's not stupid - he's trying to make sense of what his body is telling him, and the trainer can't help him achieve certainty.  Sure, if the trainer can respond, "I've seen these before, it'll take two weeks," that's useful - but a lot of times it won't be black and white like that.

So, in sum, I don't want to designate (heh) Buxton as DH.  Sure, DH him if it makes sense to give him a day or three to recuperate.  But I keep having flashbacks to 2023, when the lesson seemed to be, if Buxton's not good to go in the field, the bat may not be "all that" either.

This. Buxtons injuries are not helpful but he is the lone difference maker they have right now. One plus is they now have multiple guys that can play competent CF in his absence. It makes zero sense to turn him into a DH when he is still your best fielder. Play him regularly and give him a few days off here and there. When he gets hurt IL him and get him back to healthy and let him play regularly again. He doesn’t have to play 140 games to be really valuable- just don’t let him play hurt for any length of time.