Why the Twins bet $100M on Byron Buxton
BALTIMORE – It was a mutual leap of faith, forged by trust, informed by familiarity, yet posing significant risk in an industry where that’s become the biggest four-letter word of all.
How, really, could the Minnesota Twins hand out just the second ninefigure contract extension in their history to a player who’d participated in 39% of their games the past four seasons, whose all-out play can send him to the injured list faster than he can chase a ball down in the gap?
Why, you wonder, would Byron Buxton give up his one big shot at free agency when he’d hit the market at the tender age of 28, boasting the most devastating speed-power combo in the game?
The concept of Byron Buxton, Lifetime Twin became reality in November, when he agreed to a seven-year, $100 million extension in Minnesota. The buildup began much sooner, when, like all good relationships, both parties kept the lines of communication open even as Buxton’s talent-health conundrum set the stage for complex negotiations.
The payoff is playing out before our eyes: Buxton is hitting the ball harder and chasing it down more effectively than almost anyone in the major leagues, fulfilling a five-tool destiny the club envisioned when it drafted him second overall in 2012. The Twins, at 1510, are atop the AL Central once again, second only to the Yankees in OPS during a 12-game span in which they won 11 games to seize the division lead.
And perhaps notably, in an industry designed to blunt loyalty, in an environment where the management-labor dynamic features significant mistrust, Buxton and the Twins avoided a “take it or leave it” moment as he struggled to reach the elite role they envisioned, sharing their mutual hopes and dreams before extending their relationship through 2028.
“Just being able to have the talks throughout those years,” Buxton told USA TODAY Sports, “is massive. A lot of teams (negotiate) with you for a couple years and then it’s, ‘You know what? We’re over it.’
“The situation here is that loyalty
that other teams don’t have. That’s what makes the Twins, Minnesota and everything about it so special.”
Buxton’s extension is second-largest only to Twin Cities native Joe Mauer’s $184 million deal, which soured after injuries prevented Mauer from regularly playing catcher. A year before Buxton’s deal, the club signed third baseman Josh Donaldson to a franchise record $92 million free agent deal and as the lockout lifted in March, gave superstar shortstop Carlos Correa a three-year, $105 million deal, with two opt-out clauses.
Yet huge contracts are still a unicorn in the Upper Midwest. And the trade of Donaldson to the New York Yankees – and the specter of Correa opting out after just one season – illustrates that not much is bolted down as the mid-revenue Twins seek flexibility. If there is a Twins Way, though, it is to assuage the player’s concerns, to listen and impart whatever details they can, which smoothed the exit of the famously intense Donaldson after a March trade.
“The most important thing I’ve learned you can be in this game is as honest and as transparent as you can be,” says Twins president Derek Falvey. “We recognize it’s a business – it’s part of the game. The key is to navigate that
and understand that some players work so hard and their focus so singularly is to get to free agency. You can’t hold that against them. That’s part of the business. We start from a baseline level of respect for someone to seek their own best option – for themselves, for their families and for their teams. Those things can overlap.”
Particularly when Buxton ponders his surroundings in Minnesota, realizes his wife, Lindsey and two young boys are happy and recognizes the value of home as sanctuary when work can be so challenging.
“They feel comfortable, they feel safe, and that’s all you can ask for as far as a dad or a husband,” Buxton says. “As long as they’re confident, safe and happy, this is where I want to be as well.
“This is where my heart is.”
‘It’s so glaringly incredible’
Still, a significant part of it will remain in his native Georgia. With financial security in hand, Buxton has purchased land in his hometown of Baxley and plans to construct his dream home. He professes that so long as the gym and batting cage are installed without incident, “I’m good. My wife can have the house.”
Buxton has been a father far longer than a regular big leaguer, his oldest son Brix turning 10 later this year. He says he learned early on in his career from veteran outfielder Torii Hunter to leave work issues at the ballpark, to not take an 0-for-4 home with him.
The advice was a blessing, as Buxton’s career stalled while he struggled to keep his 6-2, 190-pound body healthy. It’s not so much that Buxton was injury prone so much as his playing style became a magnet for freak injuries.
A shoulder injury short-circuited his first pro season in 2013. A left wrist malady and a collision-turned-concussion in 2014. A sprained thumb in 2015, 10 games into his major league career. A toe injury in 2018, all the way through last season, when he missed two months after getting hit on the left hand by a pitch.
Buxton got proactive this winter, hiring a nutritionist to aid in diet as well as recommending workouts and exercises to keep his body flexible. “Physically,” he says, “I know I can play baseball and do what I do. Mentally, it’s a grind and that’s what you have to work on day in and day out.
“And the body is the biggest grind of all. You have to make sure you stay on top of it.”
The Twins are protecting their investment, too, in a manner that preserves Buxton but causes them pain: Leaving him out of the lineup.
Buxton has been a healthy scratch or had sufficient minor bumps and bruises often enough that he’s played in 15 of 25 games, leaving him shy of qualifying for batting titles. It is a nightly conundrum for manager Rocco Baldelli.
“Byron is as good of a baseball player as you’ll ever see,” says Baldelli. “Anytime you have a guy like that, you want 162 games, you want 700 plate appearances. But what we want is for him to play at his best for the entire season and give us a chance to win a World Series. That’s our goal here.
“When you have a guy that can simply, one swing of the bat, turn the game on its head, it’s pretty amazing, but it’s also purely winning ballgames for us. It’s only one way he’s doing it. It’s hard not to talk about all the ways he does it because it’s so glaringly incredible.”