KnoblauchWasFramed

Assuming Buxton played 15 seasons, which is as long as Joe Mauer, then he’s already played half of his career when this season is over. And what has he accomplished in that time frame? He has played in 459 out of a possible 1,134 games, or approximately 40%. This one stat alone should end any of this talk about every other team just throwing out $100+ million contracts at Buxton when he becomes a free agent. But because we are Minnesota sports fans we all live in a delusional bubble where we use terms like “one in a lifetime talent” and “game changing” and “top shelf elite MLB player”. So lets look at those 459 games that he’s actually played in: .247 Batting Average .289 On Base % .453 Slugging % .751 OPS% 367 HITS (88 2B, 17 3B, 61 HR) 95 BBs & 469 Ks 67 SBs 14.7 WAR If you were to average numbers like this out over a 162 game season it’s even more alarming; AVG – R – H – RBI ( 2Bs – 3Bs – HRs – SBs – BBs – Ks) ,247 – 80 – 130 – 68 (32 – 7 – 22 – 24 – 34 – 166) WAR – 2.1 Everyone keeps saying how Buxton would be this and Buxton would be that if only he had been healthy. But to say this conveniently sweeps his actual performance when he was health under the rug. When he was at 100% he still wasn’t very good. And take away his fielding ability during the games he did play and you have a guy who very likely wouldn’t even be on an MLB roster most of that time. It’s more than safe to say that we’ve seen everything Buxton has to offer in the exact same way we can say that we’ve seen all Sano has to offer. There might be flashes of quality play, but they are just too few and too far between and will never be the norm for either player. Are you willing to have the “cash strapped” “small market” twins commit $15-$20 million a year to someone who, at best, once played in 140 games, but then never more than 92 in any other season? And what about 2017 when he played in 140 games? A .253 average and a slash of .314/.413/.728 along with 150 Ks against 38 BBs. Yes he won the Platinum Glove and stole 29 bases and hit 16 HRs but, again, is that worth $20 million even if he were able to replicate even those minimal numbers? Oh, and don’t forget the Playoff Numbers he has produced. In 2017 he was 0-2 and left the game early. In 2019 he didn’t play at all. And in 2020 he only started Game One and went 1-4 and struck out 3 times and was injured and didn’t start Game Two but did come in as a pinch runner and promptly got picked off in the bottom of the 8th inning with the Twins down by one run. The numbers just don’t lie, Buxton is a middle ground potential journeyman “have glove will travel” player. It would be great if would could keep him around 3/$35 with salaries at $8m, $10m, and $12m with a buyout of $5m and 2-3 option years at $14m, $15, and $16m which he would have earned if he stayed healthy. This ends up at a range of 5/$60m or 6/$75. That seems much more reasonable.