The Twins Faced a No-Win Situation with Byron Buxton’s Injury Plan

There's no way to answer this without knowing the situation with his knee. All we've heard is it is a chronic issue.

If his knee can be fixed, then fix it. They should take whatever time is required to do that.

If it cannot be fixed, then that is extremely concerning. The question then becomes "Can he even play baseball anymore?" instead of "What should be the team's plan for next year?" He can't play in the field, clearly isn't 100% when running the bases, and it wouldn't be a stretch to assume it has impacted him in the batter's box. He can't continue to play like this.

Is so disappointing. 

When he came up his tools were unbelievable.

With all the medical experts out there and at their disposal is kind of weird that they can't get him right. 

Good chance like all of us old farts we have to take it down a gear or end up with a pulled something. So hard 

to do though. like the others not sure what the answer is .. except trade him and get what you can.. move on. 

You touched on the major problem this FO wanted. They wanted Buxton to be "available". Unfortunately being "available" and being a "contributing factor" can be two different things, and in Buxton's case, it is. At this point in the season and based on his productivity at the DH spot, I would send him to the surgeon and fix the problem even if it means the rest of the season without him. He isn't worth having in the lineup the way he is and others are proving right now they are better filling the DH spot than him, so what have they got to lose? Nothing! AND, if he can't be fixed then it is time to part ways with him and it shouldn't matter how they do it. Keeping a broken commodity for part-time measures when others are better does not make your TEAM better. 

For 2024, throw him in CF (with a better back-up plan than MAT).

Or send him to a surgeon. Or see if he'll agree to a buy-out/retirement.

Anything but DH.

I had a car like Byron Buxton in the past. It looked nice in the driveway but it was always broke. The guy has had like 30 injuries. His hip, his knee, his hamstring etc. I think the hang nail is next. I'm not sure what bothers me more Byron Buxton or the Trevor Mahle trade. 

Byron Buxton sat on a wall
Byron Buxton had a great fall

All the Twins trainers

and all the Twins men

Couldn't put Byron Buxton together again. 

Who had a higher strike out rate?

Buxton or Sano?

If the knee can be surgically repaired, they should do it now. 

My empathy is with Byron. His body just has not been fully healed, affecting his swing completely and keeping him off the grass. We have seen how much fun he has playing centerfield in the past.  The restrictions are a total bummer for him.

The Twins should do whatever they can to make him whole. Hopefully both management and Buck find a solution for him.

I'd surgically repair him some more or at least rest him, possibly you bring him back at the end of the year, but I'm thinking it might be best to wait until 2024.  We need him to play OF; that's where Byron's value lies.  Possibly a corner position would keep him healthier during the season?

Julian probably ends up at DH with only occasional starts at 2B.  Polanco returns to 2B when Lewis is back.

There is way beyond enough of a track record to prove that he is not able to stay healthy and available to a Major League roster. This teams loyalty to the player and not the results is frustrating to me.

Same old stories with Buxton.  8 years of injuries.  The poor guy should retire.  In any case the Twins should set him out for the rest of the season.  He us not helping the team at all.  Quite the contrary.  He's hurting the team.  The team plays much better without his automatic out in the lineup.  It's time to shut Buxton down.  

It is crazy how the worm has turned. Used to be the talk was about how much better the Twins record was with Buxton in the lineup. This year it seems to have flipped. He must not be healthy enough to perform as in the past. Yet the team is about as forthcoming with information as the most paranoid NFL regimes, lol. To be fair they may or may not know what the future holds for Buxton's knee or other issues. It surely is looking like a chronic problem. At this point then they would have to operate with a focus on getting the most value from him over the term of his contact with less regards to short term value. So if that means shutting him down for another procedure then you do that. If the problem can't be fixed, the only option is to see if there is a way he can contribute with a change in playing style or position etc. Sadly with his performance as a DH only, this may not work. Eventually this mystery will unfold, but I would not be surprised if we were still relegated to mere speculation as the season opens next year. 

Well, since the arthroscopic clean-up apparently didn't do the trick, outside of replacement, I guess there's the possibility of using the microfracture stem cell surgery procedure if it's a cartilage damage situation. But like others have said, if that's the case, shut it down now, get the 'fix' underway and hope for the best in '24.  *Edit.   I guess there's the possibility that they tell him that to avoid the replacement at such a young age, he needs to avoid heavy stress on the joint, period.

There sure are a lot of arm chair doctors here explaining exactly the issues Buxton is having with his knee in great detail (bone on bone, etc) without examining his knee in person. I suggest he has it looked at by professionals and have what needs to be done to make it better if possible. If there is nothing that can be done (I don’t feel knee replacement is an option for a professional athlete) then he should retire. 

15 hours ago, Tibs said:

There's no way to answer this without knowing the situation with his knee. All we've heard is it is a chronic issue.

If his knee can be fixed, then fix it. They should take whatever time is required to do that.

If it cannot be fixed, then that is extremely concerning. The question then becomes "Can he even play baseball anymore?" instead of "What should be the team's plan for next year?" He can't play in the field, clearly isn't 100% when running the bases, and it wouldn't be a stretch to assume it has impacted him in the batter's box. He can't continue to play like this.

Totally agree. This is a perfect recap of my own thoughts. Wish the team was more transparent about injuries