I don't have the most recent stretch of his AAA stats in front of me, and frankly don't feel like doing the research at the moment, b7t I recall something like only 1 or 2 BB to go along with numerous SO. Meaning that despite a few nice looking numbers since his most recent activation, doesn't appear the contact is there, which also could indicate an approach still being worked on.

I posted those stats in the article:

Has hit .385/.400/.596 in the 12 games since

(19-for-52-12 Rs 19 Hs 7 2Bs 1 3B 1 HR 7 RBI 1 BB & 13 K)

Appeared to be on a bit of a tear.

Here's a link to his Game Log - https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=buxton000byr&type=bgl&year=2018

In this stretch, the contact appears to be there but, it's also AAA, a stretch of 12 games and that's why there's an argument for getting him Major League ABs.

I don't have the most recent stretch of his AAA stats in front of me, and frankly don't feel like doing the research at the moment, b7t I recall something like only 1 or 2 BB to go along with numerous SO. Meaning that despite a few nice looking numbers since his most recent activation, doesn't appear the contact is there, which also could indicate an approach still being worked on.

For me its really not about this One thing. I love Buxton but I am thinking that he is what he is. As I have stated before I am an old school fan. I believe that analytics are a great tool in evaluating players, a tool. A keen eye to spot a "winner" is always going to trump a computer print out. I am sure even Billy Beane would agree. Rarely will you find a player that doesn't have some drawbacks in one phase or the other.

I would rather have a player like Danny Gladden who is a scrapper and a clutch player than a 5-tool prospect that strikes out way too much and gets hurt all the time. Maybe its not fair to say this but Jeeze...at what point does something like Durability come into play. Is it time to say who cares about an extra year of 10 trips to the 10 day disabled list. Now we are screwing up the continuity and chemistry of the line up and no doubt paying close to 20 million a year for a part time player who strikes out way too much and is hurting more than he is healthy. His body of work is what it is. They should have brought him up. And here is why.

This is just another thing that the FO has FUBARed all this season. We can all see they better get some damn quality free agents in here next year. I hear all the promises about how much money they have to spend and blah, blah, bull$hit. Let him play and see that we either have our centerfielder, or not. Byron, get on base however T.F. you can. that is your job. Nothing else. Succeed or Fail. Now we move on. Falvey and Levine dug themselves by this elitist secret plan b.s. game they play with the fans, players and yes..Molitor too. I feel like there is no transparency in their real agenda and they dont have enough quality experience to act that way. in my opinion hiring them was a big mistake. One of them should have had lifelong ties to the Twins organization. Personally i dont care about this Buxton. What i care about is the perception the rest of the league gets from this kind of crap. If you are banking everything on signing some blue chip free agents(with the money you saved tanking 2018 way ahead if time) then why publicly admit you are intentionally screwing players over. The MLBPA, and Buxton wont forget this. The other players wont either,especially the ones in the Twins clubhouse. They F-¢ked up big this time. They should have thought thus one through. But then again after this year, Im not sure they have spent much time thinking. Their focus should have been on 2019 at this point, not 2022. Minnesota Twins fans dont wanna watch two outsiders play fantasy baseball with their franchise. Unless they have the second coming waiting to burst through the door you guys better do something now to fix this and put winners on the field Next Year! Not in 3 or 5 or even 2 years. Good luck Derek, and Thad. You are gonna need it. I for one, hope you can succeed.

How do you know if a player is durable? Buxton has been out from migraines, a broken toe & a strained wrist this season. Are there players that wouldn't have been injured on those plays? Maybe. Do they track that? Who knows? Maybe they should or even already do. Injuries are part of the game. 

That being said, the front office might just be doing their due diligence in trying to find a replacement for Buxton if they need to rather than trying to fill that spot as it happens next season. 

The bottom line for me is this. A lot of people thought this team was ready to compete/contend for the playoffs and they might have been but so many things happened this season that didn't go according to plan (Santana injury, FAs didn't pan out at all, Polanco suspended, Buxton/Sano having rough seasons, Dozier was bad, etc...) They have a plan all offseason and then they're trying to fix things on the fly. (Maybe they should've just kept Anibal Sanchez in the first place.)

They weren't ready to have to deal with all of that because they are still building this team. They don't yet have the depth to sustain all of that. Then, they had little choice but to sell at the deadline and build for the future. 

Is this the right move? I don't know. It'd be nice to see what Buxton could've done a month full of MLB at-bats and they are available if Grossman and Field are getting them instead. He's done well in September before so did that factor into their decision. 

Will the extra season even mean anything? They'll already know by then what he is and if they'll re-sign, trade or give up on him. I still think this a wait and see what happens in 2019 thing. Until then, we'll continue to speculate about it. 

THANKS for taking the time to comment. 

Next year's Free Agent List from MLB Trade Rumors

Assuming they exercise Ervin Santana's $14M option because they'd probably have to pay more in Free Agency for a pitcher to replace him,

If they kept Santana, they'd have:

Berrios, Santana, Gibson, Odorizzi, Pineda/May/Mejia/Romero/Gonsalves/Stewart/etc... for the rotation

Hildy, Reed, May, Rogers, Moya, Magill, Drake, Busenitz, Curtiss, Duffey, Slegers...for the bullpen

And in the field:

C-Jason Castro, Mitch Garver

1B-Mauer(?), Grossman, Sano, Austin

2B-Forsythe(?), Adrianza, Gordon

SS-Polanco, Adrianza, Gordon

3B-Sano, Adrianza

LF-Rosario, Granite

CF-Buxton, Cave, Granite

RF-Kepler, Granite

Who do they go after?

2B (keep Forsythe? Descalso, Dozier, Esco, LeMahieu, Murphy, Iglesias)

SS (Galvis, Machado, Esco (KC))

3B (Moustakas)

SP (Corbin, Eovaldi, Cahill, Ryu, Tillman)

RP (Familia, Herrera, Rodney, Kelly, Kimbrel, Norris, Ottavino, Britton, Duke, Wilson)