[ad_1]
Byron buxton is currently on the injured list with a broken hand, but the twins have given him something to think about as he recovers. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Minnesota is hoping to sign Buxton for the long term and recently offered him a deal that guarantees him over $ 70 million and also includes escalators and incentives – presumably depending on health and days gone by. on the active list.
Now 27, Buxton was the second pick in the 2012 draft and, at various points, topped the rankings of prospects for Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus and ESPN. There were some early growth difficulties at the plate as Buxton struggled with strikeouts and couldn’t harness his considerable raw power, but in recent years he has shown the complete talent that has made a Such a high draft pick and such a vaunted prospect.
Since 2019, Buxton has hit .282 / .322 / .581 with 33 homers, 44 doubles, four triples and 21 stolen goals (in 25 attempts). That includes an otherworldly performance so far in 2021, when he slashed 0.369 / 0.409 / 0.767 with 10 homers and 11 doubles in just 110 home plate appearances. Given that Buxton is arguably the best defensive player in baseball regardless of his position, this home plate production makes him one of baseball’s most valuable players per game.
The problem for Buxton, of course, has been staying on the pitch. That exceptional 2019-21 production came from a sample of just 540 plaque appearances, thanks to a barrage of injuries. Some were random in nature – his current injury occurred when he was hit by a throw; his fractured toe in 2018 happened when he fouled a bullet in his foot – but as Rosenthal points out, Buxton has made 11 career trips on the injured list. That number doesn’t even include a quartet of minor league placements in IL for various injuries, including a pair of left wrist sprains.
There isn’t a single nagging injury that continues to hamper Buxton, which is both encouraging and frustrating. He suffered from migraines and concussion symptoms after all-out games in the outfield, a partial tear of a ligament in his thumb as he slipped into the bag on a fly base, surgery to repair the labrum from his left shoulder and also landed on IL due to a variety of strains and sprains over the years.
Due to this litany of injuries, Buxton is one of the most difficult baseball players to contractually assess. The .282 / .322 / .581, 33 homers and 44 doubles mentioned above were played in 153 games, or about a full season of play. Very few players could achieve such an impressive streak over a full season – and certainly not with comparable defensive value – but Buxton has only played 100 games once in a Major League season. It’s easy to argue that even a half-season of Buxton is worth over $ 10 million, but it’s also understandable that the Twins are reluctant to the extent of their guarantee.
One element of context that should be taken into account when considering any potential expansion for Buxton is uptime. He will be a free agent after the 2022 season and is eligible for arbitration for the last time this winter, but that is largely due to the fact that Buxton was not called up in September of 2018.
Buxton landed on the Major League’s injured list in early 2018 with what was hoped would be minimal stay due to migraine issues, but he got fouled with a bullet in the foot while on a mission rehabilitation and suffered a hairline fracture. He tried to overcome the injury at the MLB level, but perhaps had the worst three-week period of his career doing so. Buxton was eventually moved back to the IL and, after being activated, was optioned to Triple-A. He then suffered the aforementioned wrist strains, further prolonging his stay with the minors.
Buxton returned from the IL minor league to hit .356 / .400 / .596 in 12 games with Triple-A Rochester, but he was not included in the Twins’ calls in September. The omission kept Buxton from crossing the two-year MLB threshold at three, and postponed his path to free agency by a year.
General manager Thad Levine admitted at the time (link via The Athletic) that Buxton’s representatives at Jet Sports Management were “unhappy” and “disappointed” with the decision. Buxton himself told the Minneapolis Star Tribune the following December that his omission from the September team’s collection of summons “did not go well,” although he later added that he still hoped. spend his entire career with the organization of the Twins.
The Twins gave Buxton a good raise for a Super Two player after an injury-ridden season this winter ($ 1.75 million), but it’s hard to imagine the September 2018 problem not resurfacing to some extent during the current extension talks. . That’s not to say a deal can’t be done, of course. This only adds another layer to what already appeared to be an extremely complex negotiating package.
There aren’t many recent examples of a center player with more than five years of Big League service giving up free agency and signing an overtime, though Aaron Hicks and Charlie blackmon serve as potential benchmarks. Hicks signed a seven-year, $ 70 million contract in the spring of 2019 (six years, $ 64 million in new money). Blackmon signed a six-year, $ 108 million contract right after opening day of 2018 (five years, $ 94 million in new money). Both had over five years of service at the time of their extra time, as Buxton does now, but both were considerably older than Buxton is now. Buxton is also further removed from the open market right now due to trading mid-season rather than during his year-round spring training. Hicks and Blackmon could very well be talking points raised in the discussions, but these data points are far from direct parallels.
Notably, Rosenthal suggests there’s a chance the Twins will trade Buxton if the two sides fail to agree on a contract extension, although such a move seems more likely during the offseason than when Buxton is. on the injured list with a broken hand. That’s sort of a surprise in itself, because even despite their poor performance in 2021, the Twins have a promising young core of controllable hitters and great payroll flexibility to top up their pitching staff this offseason. There is no indication that the Twins are preparing for a long rebuilding effort, and it would be difficult for them to simultaneously trade Buxton before opening day 2022 and still claim to aim to fight next year.
[ad_2]
Source link