ewen21

Plus, he doesn't play with injuries so the games that he has played in are at his absolute optimal best because the Twins treat him like he is Prince Diana. Are we going to do cartwheels if he gets one more hit and reaches the hundred hit plateau for the SECOND time in his entire career?

This article is about Buxton or those who dare to criticize him? Are you looking to illicit a response from the critics? If so then allow it to happen. At least now you guys aren't issue warnings and taking down posts that question or criticize this guy. I keep hearing references to his offense but his career numbers are not good at all. All facts here….. 1. .304 lifetime OBP 2. .244 lifetime average 3. He’s never scored 70 runs in a season. 4. Has had over 100 hits in a season once 5. He has never scored 70 runs in a season 6. The most RBI he’s ever driven in is 56 That is NOT GREAT by any standard so please stop! Furthermore, he has proved NOTHING this year other than he continues to be a question mark at all times. He's proved nothing besides the fact that he cannot be relied upon to play. This is by far his best offensive year and yet we are constantly bombarded with grandiose statements about his "greatness" Sorry, but the numbers do not lie. He is not a great player. He has averaged less than half the games every single year (aside from the COVID season) ever since his "breakout season" in 2017.

1000% this

Rocco should be fired, but he is FAR from being THE REASON for this.

Going into this season Buxton had played in more than 92 games only once and collected more than 76 only once. I do want to hear "if healthy" anymore. He was sore for a month and did not play. Someone needs to tell him that ballplayers have to play through soreness down the stretch. There was nothing that showed up on any scans and there was no diagnosis beyond a sore hip. That diagnosis comes from Buxton himself and the organization has had this "protect at all costs" mentality where he is protected like the Hope Diamond. I blame the guys in the front office for this. They are the ones who imposed load management on Buxton to the degree where HE now feels he cannot play unless he is 100% (or darn close to it). That is not reality in any sphere of manhood. Forget sports. There are jobs far more difficult than playing major league baseball which are more important and pay a lot less. People like him get replaced in the normal world. I did several jobs that were hard labor when I was about his age. How many times I dragged myself out of bed to work when I was sore? I have seen friends who are farmers, construction workers, tradesmen, etc.....work daily year in year out with all sorts of ailments for YEARS. In that context, it is very hard to for me understand how soreness holds him back for a month during the most important time of the year. I guarantee you Carlos Santana was sore all through August and September, but he soldiered on. We all watched Torii Hunter play a reckless brand of baseball like Buxton, but his toughness carried him through. Sorry man. I just have to clap back on those who celebrate this. I think it is part of the problem with the organizational culture here. Aim low, hit a target even lower seems to be the philosophy and it gets passed off as being glass half full.

Completely agree. How is it unreasonable to expect a player in the prime of his career to play something resembling a full season? When 2020 is excluded, since his “breakout season” in 2017, in the six full seasons that followed he’s played in an average of just 76 games in those seasons. That is right around 47% of the games played in six seasons. There is no WHY that explains this away anymore. These are the seasons of his career from age 25 to age 30. I don’t want to hear theories or excuses as to WHY at this point. He’s played in less that 50% of the games in the last six full seasons. That’s just a fact. Let’s not obscure that with theories, excuses or explanations. So he’s having a little hot streak in his last 10 days. It’s too little, too late as this team is already cooked. And quite frankly, no player who plays in 47% of the games on the schedule in his prime deserves to be elevated to “face of the franchise” as this place has in a recent article. Nor should 100 games played be considered a milestone. If anyone wants to celebrate that be my guest. Just don’t tell me or anyone else who is incredulous over the celebration we can’t feel a certain way about a millionaire ballplayer who can’t go more than 50% over the last six full seasons. Don’t expect much out of the Twins if this kind of “accomplishment” is considered a good thing. It lowers accountability across the board.

He’s offered plenty of criticism. What are you saying beyond the ellipses?

Don’t mistake my input here for rage. However, when I see all the thumbs down on posts that were entirely fair and done with no malice I have to back them. I posted a list of facts in my last post. I don’t know how anyone can disagree with it

All facts here….. 1. .304 lifetime OBP 2. .244 lifetime average 3. He’s never scored 70 runs in a season. 4. Has had over 100 hits in a season once 5. He has never scored 70 runs in a season 6. The most RBI he’s ever driven in is 56 This is a guy who was referred to here as the “face of the franchise” just days ago in another article. No lies in anything I said so if you hit that disagree button you’re going to need to also speak up and tell me what caused you to disagree with FACTS.

It is.

Is this the Twilight Zone? 100% agree with your comment. Honestly, if we are going act like playing 102 games out of 162 is an achievement then it’s a sad state of affairs.

If they resign him? Explain how that’s even a thought at this juncture after all we’ve seen over ten seasons. We cannot keep pretending he’s more than he is

And you like that?

How can a player be the face of a franchise when they play in slightly over half the games on the schedule over the last decade? Too many accolades, accommodations and excuses and not enough reliability and production.

In the last thirty days only two teams have scored less runs than our team. Even if the defense was flawless we won’t be winning meaningful games if we are not going to score runs. End of story.

Unlike Buxton, big hits in the playoffs

If I’m looking for a big hit in a big spot I want Lewis up over ANYONE on this team.

Thumbs down is supposed to mean disagree. I’d like to know what about this post anyone can disagree with and if you do perhaps do little better than a thumbs down. It’s not enjoyable watching this team burn out the way it has these last couple of months. It’s too bad comments like this one above are spot on.

Seriously? Buxton missed about 40% of his games. He’s played in over 100 games ONCE. Somehow the Twins are doing him wrong? Why aren’t we questioning his approach? It is impossible to keep him on the field. They’ve tried EVERYTHING. This on him.

More later

You’re free to feel that way, but after ten years we all know enough about HIM. What we do know is he’s the only one reporting to anyone on the hip. No one can find anything and the staff is going what Byron says. At this point, one month for a sore hip is dubious to me. I cannot give him the benefit of the doubt any longer since this kind of thing has happened over and over again throughout his ten year career. You guys can give him the benefit of the doubt if you want, but can’t others question him? Bud Grant once said, “availability Trumps ability”. For all the praise Buxton has gotten here (and everywhere else) over the years his career numbers don’t warrant it, in my opinion. I’ve seen comparisons to Aaron Judge here and, quite frankly, as a Twins fan I find the comparison embarrassing. At this point he deserves to be criticized and questioned freely and I’m not the only one who feels this way. For a guy who has had over 85 hits in a season only he sure has a lot of folks ready to write his sick notes for him. After a while, the excessive time on the IL is on him. Patterns are sometimes hard to fathom but in this case we have nearly a decade of DATA and observation. For him to say he’s too sore to go just days after that rehab game in St Paul and then suddenly decide “I’m good to go” a few days later is suspect to me. Im sorry, but the way this organization has treated him with kid gloves created a Frankenstein. They set the bar so low with regard to his availability. I’ve been watching major league baseball since 1972 and I’ve never seen a guy “load managed” in the way he’s been. He’s been treated like he’s the Hope Diamond. He’s just another ballplayer to me and all everyday major leaguers deal with soreness at this time of year. Quite obviously he doesn’t very well at all and I think that’s soft.

Awfully nice of you to answer me. As already stated by cheesegopher, there is not a shred of documentation/evidence available to us showing what the injury is. Buxton has been examined by team doctors and his body has been scrutinized for a solid month. None of the expertise, advanced equipment, or experience in that medical staff can identify what the problem is. The only thing we are going on is Buxton's account of a hip that is sore since there is nothing team doctors can give us. This is a matter of trust. You trust what Buxton is saying and that is fine and I do to a point. I have no doubt he feels soreness, but I have no doubt he has trouble playing through soreness. This is why I feel HE is the one who kept himself out of the lineup, not the Twins staff. It has gotten to the point where they wait for him to say he's ready to go. Diagnostic imaging techniques allow medical staff to the damage from an injury to ensure the diagnosis is accurate. These techniques include X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. If any of these techniques yielded anything we'd have been informed. Since you “pay attention” please direct me to something other than “sore hip” because that comes from the player, not the staff. For one month hip soreness kept him out of playing meaningful baseball games. He was put on the 10-day and yet again he mysteriously stretched it out. Everyone is going on nothing other than what Buxton tells the doctors. Again, I believe this is where you need to chime in and tell us what the injury is, or maybe you take a beat and ask yourself if you're giving this guy too much leeway? In my opinion, he chose to milk this soreness because he’s learned this behavior. He played a game last week in St. Paul, struck out twice and got ejected in the 3rd inning. After that he complained of a setback and for a couple of days we had no timetable. Now, magically, days later, he is good to go? I am sorry. I can't buy it. He has a long, long history of injuries and many of them are headscratchers. Does it seem at all curious to you why he suddenly is straight and the soreness is gone in the snap of a finger? These are facts about Buxton that cannot be disputed: He has never scored 70 runs, he has never driven in more than 51 runs, his lifetime average is .243, his lifetime OBP is .304. He has gotten more than 84 hits just once, has had more than 308 at bats once, was put on a plan to play 100 games two years ago and I think he is still in that mindset because he has been allowed to do just that AND he has played more than 92 games once in his entire career. These are all facts and it informs an opinion I have, which is this guy has a low threshold for pain. Period. YOu can disagree with me if you want, but I ask that you refrain from the unnecessary insults.

For the record, I feel he’s chosen not to play. Again, when I’m not so busy at work (later this evening) I’m prepared to explain.

So much here to pick apart and so little time. I promise you I’ll give a very detailed response when I get a chance in the next couple of days. We don’t agree, but to say we aren’t paying attention is absurd. I’ll show you just how much “paying attention” I have done with regards to Mr. Buxton. And if you disagree maybe you should isolate what it is that you disagree with so we can have an actual discussion. Cheesehopher has tried several times and you’ve not followed up at all.

Same here.