The Twins activated star centerfielder Byron Buxton today, per the Athletic’s Dan Hayes (via Twitter). He is in the starting lineup for today’s ballgame. Buxton has been out with a hip strain since May 7th. The injury was initially only expected to keep him out for a couple of weeks, but Buxton ended up with a 41-day stint on the injured list.
The injury was a particularly crushing blow because Buxton had been red hot to start the season. He logged a ridiculous 2.6 bWAR in just 24 games before going down, slashing .370/.408/.772 with nine home runs in 98 plate appearances.
Losing Buxton proved to be as detrimental to the Twins’ playoff chances as we might have guessed. They were 12-19 (.387 win percentage) when Buxton went down, but just 5 1/2 games out of first place. Rocco Baldelli’s squad has actually played a little better in the 38 games since, going 16-22 (.421 win percentage). Nevertheless, the Twinkies have fallen 13 games behind the White Sox for the division lead and 13 games behind the Astros for the second wild card spot entering play today.
In a corresponding move, the Twins optioned Willians Astudillo the Triple-A, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (via Twitter). “La Tortuga” has served as a source of, shall we say, comic relief this season, bringing a 54.2 mph heater to the mound in three relief appearances. He faced 11 total hitters and allowed one earned run on one somewhat controversial blast from Yermin Mercedes.
In his day job, Astudillo has hit .254/.276/.385 while employing his trademark all-contact approach (1.6 percent walk rate, 7.9 percent strikeout rate). Despite the hyper-specific offensive profile, Astudillo provides value through his defensive versatility. He is perhaps the most positionally agile player in baseball, having appeared at first, second, third, right, catcher and, of course, pitcher this season. Shortstop is the only position Astudillo has never played at the big-league level.
OPE. Buxton hurt himself reading this notification while lifting his phone.
Iron Byron..
I’m as excited to see him play as the Twins’ insurance underwriter.
Oh no! They released the janitor. Who else is going to give us entertaining mop ups now?
noooooooooo la tortuga
They optioned their best pitcher. Classic Twins move.
That sucks…Astudillo sightings are the only thing that have made the Twins worth watching this season.
So I guess that makes Gordon/Arraez the 3rd basemen… while Donald Duck is re-re-re-re-remended
I’d like to say on the Lost of our Favorite EWOK.. you know he was improving his plate discipline… but not his swing discipline .. overswinging way too much… that BTW is on the coaches… because clearly he is flexible enough to learn.. he just need people that teach at his level… I hope they get him someone who can cure the overswing because if they cure that.. his bat will play..
La tortuga was The only reason I watch some Twins game.
I only watch the Twins when the Sox play them
So watching Sano swing the same swing in K after K gets boring?
Who’s going to close out their blowout losses now?
they have a whole cast of guys that can do that.. of course if they did their jobs.. they blow-out specialist wouldn’t be needed…
Without looking over their roster there has be someone else who should go down. The turtle doesn’t deserve to stick? He’s been in more highlight reels since he’s been up and at multiple positions. He doesn’t walk but the guy has to be hardest to strike out in MLB or close to it.
The only other options would have been Gordon (currently the backup CF), Larnach or Kirilloff (both hitting well enough to stay), or Sano (contract will prevent him from being DFA’d). Plus, keeping Kirilloff means you can keep Sano on the bench.
astudillo lovers everywhere….but seriously, he’s truly awful. swings a bad pitches to avoid walks. below average at every position. definitely out of shape for baseball – belongs on a beer league field.
REALLY, what about Sano? For that matter: I don’t think Kirby Puckett was exactly the cover of Sports Illustrated for his shape.
Sano wasn’t the one sent to AAA…probably should be, but, not who we are talking about….Sano can at least play decent first base….look at it this way…if Sano gets hot for a month, he carries the team. if Astudillo gets hot for a month….wait…never happened….
Yuck, please stop publishing articles calling them “twinkies”
Agreed, it’s not an endearing nickname and I don’t know of anyone in Minnesota that uses it unironically.
I am from Minnesota and I call them Twinkies in an endearing way. I know plenty of others that do the same. I like it. Even when it is intended as a smear.
Curious. What do you say during the 7th inning stretch? “Root, root, root, for the Twi – ins”? Because if you do, that sounds stupid. Doesn’t every fan say, “root, root, root for the Twinkies”? Maybe times have changed.
“Home team”…? The sing along score board as far back as the metrodome and now in target field says home team.
I always said Cardinals at the ball games growing up? Do they only say the name of the team where the best fans in baseball are? Like Chicago, St Louis, LA, New York, Boston?
If your definition of “the best fans in baseball” is where teams have 2 syllable names, then sure. Not gonna chant a pejorative nickname for the sake of song. Doubt you’re hearing them say the name of the team in Cincinnati, Tampa, Atlanta either.
From now on, I’m ALWAYS going to call them the Twi – ins.
This really STINKS! La tortuga was the most versatile player you have on the Twins team. He was great as a catcher, first baseman, third baseman. I think it’s interesting that they had such a universal player, and that they did not utilize him more often. But then, even on LA TORTUGA night, the manager of the team said that he forgot what that night was supposed to be, INTERESTING!! He was the most fun and enthusiastic players on the team. BRING HIM BACK!!!!!!!
Astudillo listed at 225? I’m not exactly svelte myself so I’m not poking fun at the guy, but I don’t think that’s accurate.
don’t be fooled by his listed height.. he is clearly shorter than listed…
No way that turtle is only 225
If Buxton gets hot like the first month of the season the Twins should look to trade him. They’re not competing this year and it’s time to move on from the fragile Buxton.
Making the right trades should set the Twins up to compete next year and that should be their goal.
No, Buxton is a major reason Twins fans go to games. Someone should do an attendance study of games Buxton starts versus games he does not (though that might be skewed a bit this year due to Covid restrictions). I’d stop going to games for a long time if they traded Buxton. Even a Buxton that plays half a year will be a better value than anything they get in return. I say extend him now. It is a gamble but his ceiling is the highest in perhaps the history of the game. Not an exaggeration.
Begone-I’ll bite.Do you think his ceiling is higher than Mike Trout’s?
Willie Mays’ was?How about Ty Cobb?Ted Williams?Babe Ruth?
You are a parody,correct?
“his trademark all-contact approach”
Otherwise known as an entertaining approach to watch. Walks, strikeouts, and homers might be the three true outcomes for statisticians, but they are VERY boring to watch on television for the average viewer. That is the problem with the future of baseball. If it keeps going down the sabermetric rabbit hole, it will not survive because the majority of viewers are not statisticians.
I appreciate stats as much as anyone. I took several stats courses in college, so I know what they mean. But the average fan does not. And if baseball loses the average fan, it’s over.
“Twinkies”? Seriously?
Once upon a time, they almost relocated to Hostess, NJ….
And would have adopted the name, “Hostess Twinkies”.
But the Ding Dongs didn’t do it.
HO HO !!
Well, the article was written by TC “Cupcake” Zencka…
Twins fan here. I like the term. Especially when they are having a bad year (though I’m fine with it when they are having a good year). You know, like Dodgers fans would say, “them bums” back in the day when they disappointed their fan base. Twinkies (for me) is an “endearing” sentiment wrapped around disappointment. I don’t know the intent of Zencka but I don’t see it as belittling. And I have been to MANY games in which the chant “here we go Twinkies, here we go” was shouted over and over again. Or the 7th inning stretch — I say, “root, root, root for the Twinkies.” Don’t all fans?
@Begone Spenglerd (parody) why do you change your username and have conversations with yourself Tipsy McStagger aka trillaryhump16 aka AustinKearnsIsNotGod?
Why do you keep tabs? Got nothing better to do?
‘Losing Buxton proved to be as detrimental to the Twins’ playoff chances as we might have guessed. They were 12-19 (.387 win percentage) when Buxton went down, but just 5 1/2 games out of first place. Rocco Baldelli‘s squad has actually played a little better in the 38 games since, going 16-22 (.421 win percentage).’
Not sure I follow the logic here. They were terrible with Buxton but have somehow played a little better without him, and this means his absence has been as detrimental ‘as we might have guessed’. I realize I’m taking this very literally, but I would have guessed they would be even worse without him and they haven’t been.
Oh I see what you did there, got all smart and technical
If he refuses, does he become a free agent? If so, he’d be picked up before morning!
Astudillo can chill for a few days in St Paul until Buxton goes out again
I frequently see comments or articles about how people are not going to watch teams anymore if player “x” is demoted or traded, etcetra, and I don’t see any evidence to support that position.
People watch teams, not players. Twins attendance went up the year after Kirby Puckett had to retire. It went up the year after Joe Mauer retired. It went up the year after Johan Santana was traded.
In regard to Willians Astudillo, he doesn’t play any position well by MLB standards (including catcher) and he’s one of the worst hitters in MLB. His positional flexibility allows him to temporarily fill gaps around the field and there is some endearing or comedic value to him playing a professional sport while he appears like he could be an average player on a local recreational softball team. While an independent baseball team might keep a player around like that just for the fans, no MLB team will.
In regard to the comments lamenting Miguel Sano not being the one to get sent down, Sano cannot be optioned anymore.
As a comparable player, Astudillo gets all the love that Nick Punto didn’t.
You know how they sell those team jerseys with like a players name and number on em for like 300 big ones? That’s cause people are willing to pay that kinda money to have a jersey of there “Favorite player” they more than likely come to the team’s games to watch? I did this with Albert Pujols and now Yadier Molina
Yep, that’s how much the old lady’s Munenori Kawasaki Blue Jays jersey cost me.
I don’t actually have the sales figures for individual player jerseys on the Twins and the data to back it up, but it would be great if I did because I strongly suspect people who would buy player x’s jersey were already in the market for a Twins Jersey and just happened to choose their favorite player on the team at the time. If player x were no longer on the team, the fan would just choose a player y jersey instead. The same way attendance figures are not impacted by a player.
In regard to “Albert Pujols” was it because it was “Albert Pujols”? You kind of prove my point by saying you also got a Yadier Molina jersey instead of a Pujols Angels’ jersey. Fans pick a favorite player on a team, not a favorite team based on the player.