After undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in late September, Byron Buxton told reporters (including Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star Tribune) that he has now been cleared to run. The Twins outfielder won’t be entirely sure of his status until he starts running and can properly test his knee strength, but “I’m on a good plan to be prepared for Spring Training. For me it’s all about following and sticking to that plan, not trying to overdo it.”
The recovery process seems to be on pace with the 6-8 week timeline initially projected for the surgery in September. While the arthroscopic procedure was relatively minor, it marks yet another injury in Buxton’s lengthy health history. Knee and hip problems limited Buxton to 92 games in 2022, yet that still matched the second-highest games total of Buxton’s eight Major League seasons. His first-half performance (before the injuries really started to impact his play) still netted Buxton his first All-Star nod, and he hit .224/.306/.526 with 28 homers over his 382 plate appearances. It remains to be seen if Buxton can ever stay healthy enough to fully contribute over an entire season, but even a reduced version is still an important part of Minnesota’s plans to return to contention.
More from around the AL Central…
- The Guardians dealt Nolan Jones to the Rockies earlier this week, ending the Cleveland tenure of a player who once considered the Guards’ top prospect. Jones was a top-100 staple as recently as 2021, but might’ve been the victim of a position crunch, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes. Jones’ original position of third base was already locked up at the MLB level by Jose Ramirez, and the Guardians moved Jones to the outfield in the minors, he suddenly found himself in competition with a new surge of young outfielders coming up through the pipeline. An increasing strikeout rate was also a problem for Jones, as one scout told Hoynes that Jones’ swing-and-miss problems were somewhat reminiscent of Bradley Zimmer — a rather ominous comp, given Zimmer’s inability to produce much offense at the Major League level.
- New president of baseball operations Scott Harris has been tasked with both improving the Tigers’ win-loss record and improving the organization as a whole, with a particular focus on improving how the Tigers find and develop young talent in the domestic draft and in the international signing market. The Detroit News’ Lynn Henning outlines some of the criticisms directed at the Tigers front office under former GM Al Avila, and what Harris, new assistant GM Rob Metzler and new amateur scouting director Mark Conner bring to the table in upgrading the farm system.
Buxton is the best player in the central division, he is a pure hitter with a lightning quick bat. Like the new unis, but the Cards and Yanks unis are classic, and the best.
You spelled Ramirez wrong
You got me, Buxton has more potential, but Jose is the best~
Byron Buxton’s inability to stay healthy has to be extremely frustrating for Twins fans.
On one hand, you have one of the most tantalizing players in baseball that’s just oozing skills and potential, yet he is very rarely ever 100% healthy and available.
This feels incredibly like déjà vu saying this, but I really hope Buxton can finally stay healthy and put everything together this season.
We all know how the saying goes, the best ability is availability.
Buxton is more potential than results. The CWS have Tim Anderson who is just as electrifying and Jose Ramirez is definitely a better player than Buxton. The Royals have some studs too that I’d take over Buxton.
A player has to be play to be the best player, Buxton will never be that guy. The best player in the AL Central plays in Cleveland
Buxton? He’s a skilled player, sure, but his body is wrecked, and he can’t EVER stay on the field. With his new, big contract, he probably has negative trade value, tbh.
He’s a lifetime .240 hitter with a .300 OBP and he’s played 140 games once. He’s not even an average offensive player.
Wow, he looks so much better with the eye test!
An entire team will be on the IL at the same time…. I’m likely missing some.
Mitch Garver
Brandon Belt
Brandon Lowe
Josh Donaldson
Adalberto Mondesi
Tyler O’Neill
Bryon Buxton
Giancarlo Stanton
Jack Flaherty
Stephen Strasburg
Noah Syndergaard
Jordan Hicks
Michael Fulmer
Nolan Jones can’t hit LHP
Guards pull the wool over the Rockies eyes
If the Twins were smart, they’d trade Buxton while they can while he still has any value. You can’t live on hype forever, and his window is closing fast.
And speaking of..curious to what y’all think the going rate is for a 29yr old highly talented, but never healthy dude who’s playing in more than 100 games in a season once in 8 years. Personally..I wouldn’t give up more than a couple AA lotto tickets for him..especially with his contract..
Very high. Artie Moreno still makes the decisions for the Angels
If they were going to trade him, they would have done it instead of extending him. They clearly wanted to build around him.
Buxton and Bellinger should be examples for the young “look at me” hotshots that think their future is unlimited.
MLB is a humbling sport.
The list is long.
So excited to see what Scott Harris brings to the table. Restructuring the FO has been so painfully long overdue.
I still wake up once a week with a night terror that Avila is still the general manager.
I worry that Harris will be worse than Avila. So far he has cut some useful players without having replacements for them. Who do they have that is better than Reyes, Harold and Jaimer? They are less now than when Avila was in charge.
IMO, those guys were not every day players. Certainly role players. Candy was a tough one, but who knows what arbitration would’ve looked like. And $9m (I believe) projected salary is a lot, especially for his most recent performance.
It would’ve been tough to see them come out on opening day with the same 66 win roster. The .286 obp was just brutal. Even when considering all of the pitching injuries, it was the lineup that was downfall of ‘22.
The releases was strictly because of the deadline, only a few weeks into the off-season, plenty of time to fill the needs.
WHAT?!?
“Worse than Avila”?
No one could be that. No one. Matt Millen as a GM wasn’t worse than Al Avila.
Tied, maybe.
But not worse than, because it isn’t possible. Al Avila failed at every single aspect of the job description. He was only able to sign a good manager because the guy was ruined and needed to reboot himself. That was Avila’s one and only “success” in almost 7 long years of failing, and it doesn’t even count.
Avila failed at hiring scouts, trainers, heck, betcha even his secretary couldn’t spell.
The players Scott Harris jettisoned were not worthy of keeping. Doesn’t matter who replaces them. Starting from scratch can’t be worse than what Detroiters have endured under Al Avila.
I know fans there are crying over Hittin’ Harold Castro’s departure. When a player’s nickname is better than their skills and productivity….well, cry away.
Matt Millen.. Man oh man, lol.
Detroit Lions have always been a comical entertaining bunch. Playing pretty good as of late.
Oh dear. Harris made Avila sound like a high school coach in his first five minutes behind the podium.
Giving AA thart job was a massive screw-up and it will take a few yrs just to repair the foundation and a few more to get a positive result. Nothing wrong with owners making $ but no business should do it by hiring cheap but incompetent personnel; you lose in the long run.
Buxton is the modern day Eric Davis
Terrific comp
Except when all is said and done Buxton will have played about half as much.
It will be another 5 yrs or so before “all is said and done”.
That comparison might be a little harsh since the Davis contract has oftentimes been mentioned as the worst contract in recent years. Burton’s skill set is still way above average, he just can’t seem to stay healthy.
notagain
Are you sure you’re not thinking of Chris Davis?
You are correct, I was thinking of Chris Davis. When I saw the words “bad contract” and “Davis”, the word Eric failed to register in my mind.
That’s all I was referencing was the talent but always being hurt, nothing about contract, rather amusing seeing some of the responses though
Nah..Eric Davis was usually good for 120-130 games a year at least..With Buxton, you’re lucky to squeeze 90 out of him..big difference
Exactly. It’s a terrible comp.
This is a hilariously bad take. You’re comparing a guy that actually HAD the seasons Buxton was always hyped to have, but never did. Buxton with his .244/.301/.473 vs. Davis .269/.359/.482. Their “prime years”, Davis makes Buxton look even worse. A basic dive into the stats on baseball reference takes about 3 minutes. Davis stole more bases in his age 24 season than Buxton has his entire career. He was more electric in every single way. Equal level of defensive talent, but not the same category of player at all. Anyone here really think Buxton will stay healthy enough to play 9 more seasons and/or eclipse 5,000 AB’s?
Yo, you seem pretty upset lol I watched Davis play every day , I watch Buxton play often. Buxton always reminds me of Davis.
Put away the baseball reference and stats. It’s just a feeling. Eyes.
PS it’s like me comparing guitarists. Anyone that says Zappa isn’t the greatest you’re gonna say bad take.
Zappa greatest guitar player?
Not imo. Great yes. See my avatar. I’m fond of Page but everyone entitled to their own views.
I usually seem as eager as the next guy to dump on Al Avila, and the organization pretty evidently was in shambles during and at the end of his time.
But I think the Ilitch family deserves a lot of the blame for a problem a long time coming. When Dave Dombrowski was the was the GM, he helped make the Tigers an excellent team with trades and free agent signings, and Mike Ilitch was willing to spend. The Tigers also drafted some good players during that period.
But as is now clear – and was clear to the teams that now have the best organizations – what DD was doing well was a series of short-term improvements (mostly for a good team immediately trying to get even better). In his decade or so, there was an overhaul in philosophy, personnel, and practice in evaluating, drafting, and developing talent.
Again, I think this is obvious now but only the people on the inside actually know ….
In some combination, getting ahead of and participating in these changes was not one of DD’s strengths or priorities, nor was it a specialty or priority of AA, nor was it something Mike Ilitch spearheaded or went along with.
When the Tigers competitive window closed, Mike I passed away, and DD left, I was looking forward to the Tigers bringing in outside front office talent. It was pretty frequently discussed and reported at the time that the Tigers had not kept up in these changes.
I was disappointed they picked Avila, but it wasn’t an unreasonable choice. He’d been No. 2 behind DD for a long time, had been in baseball a long time, and had a good reputation.
I know he made some upgrades in evaluation and development of talent, but it seems like it was incremental, mostly business as usual. And, as the guy in charge, he wasn’t an expert in this area, didn’t have state-of-the-art knowledge or background, and was dealing increasingly with other teams’ front officers who were doing those things, in organizations that had done those things.
I don’t think AA was fundamentally incompetent, but he was no match for a new generation of counterparts with organizations stuffed with people using the best practices and analytics.
I think it’s his fault that, from this vantage point, he didn’t give HIMSELF a kick in the butt and disrupt from within. And it’s Chris Ilitch’s fault, especially once he (probably correctly) closed his wallet to continually trying to upgrade through trades and free agents, to kick his organization in the butt and make huge changes from within. (Hiring Hinch was a nudge in that direction and, whether he succeeds or not, hiring Harris is a commitment – FINALLY – to blowing things up.)
Advertising is news these days……
I’m still scratching my head at that Nolan Jones trade.. he was blocked at the major league level, but there is a significantly worse logjam with middle infielders.
Perhaps Brito is just a guy they really like. Otherwise, I would have been content sticking Jones at 1B in AAA – because Cleveland has little organizational depth at the position.
No tiger fans read anything Henning writes. Everyone knows that guy is clueless and has no sources. He always acts like hes on the inside and writes matter of factly ….but that guy is clueless when it comes to whats going on inside the tigers. How he still writes about it is a wonder of the world.
His writing style is strange, too. It’s like he breaks up normal sentences, then reorganizes them into this choppy mess that often requires a re-read to understand wtf you just read.