Byron Buxton Set for Season-Ending Knee Surgery

[Cody Christie]

Minnesota hoped Byron Buxton would return to help the team with their playoff push. With the team’s playoff chances fading, he is set to undergo season-ending knee surgery. 

Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Twins announced Friday afternoon that Byron Buxton would undergo season-ending knee surgery. For the first-time All-Star, it is a frustrating end to one of his best big-league seasons. The arthroscopic procedure is considered a clean-up, and expectations are that he will be fully ready for the start of spring training. 

Multiple injuries plagued Buxton throughout the 2022 campaign. His knee is the main problem he fought all season, and his recent hip issues are likely tied to his knee issues. His knee has been drained of fluid, and he has continued to get treatment throughout the season, such as platelet-rich plasma injections. Even while batting injuries, he started in center field at the All-Star Game and hit a career-high 28 home runs. 

Injuries are part of the narrative that has followed Buxton throughout his career, and it’s also one of the reasons the team was able to sign him to a team-friendly long-term deal. He’s only played more than 92 games in one season, and his injury list is full of things that were in and out of his control. He’s missed time with a left-thumb injury, knee contusion, back spasms, migraines, groin strain, sprained wrist, fractured toe, shoulder surgery, concussion symptoms, hamstring issues, and hip strains. 

For another offseason, injury questions will surround Buxton even though he was tremendous during the 2022 campaign. Minnesota paid Buxton $9.14 million for the 2022 season, and FanGraphs pegs his total value this year at nearly $32 million. Some fans may say he isn’t providing value to the team on his current contract because of how often he is injured. However, he provided enough value this season to cover his contract for this year and next. 

Overall, a combination of bad luck and aggressive play has resulted in his ever-growing injury history. One positive of the Twins falling out of the race is the fact that Buxton can have the surgery now instead of waiting until further into the offseason. The team’s goal for him was to get to 100 games, and he fell just short of that total. Now, he can get his knee healthier and hopefully be ready for the start of 2023. 

What are your thoughts on Buxton’s 2023 season? Was it a success? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

 

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[Game7-91]

Hmmm, not knowing what the injury is, and surgical treatment is, it seems that "getting his knee healthier" is a relative concept. Maybe better said, getting his knee functional, and hoping he doesnt do more damage when he resumes full speed. This is really not good news. Not unexpected, but not good. Hope it goes well for him regardless. But Twins need a Plan B beyond a Buck-FT-in-CF next year.

 

[mikelink45]

Having had knee surgery multiple times and knee replacement I am not that hopeful.  I wish him luck and good health.

[dberthia]

Of all the news to come down the pike this year, this is the least surprising.

[Blyleven2011]

He was productive in the outfield  , hit 28 homeruns but no doubles or RBI's  ...

I have to commend him for playing all those games injured  , it did disrupt his hitting  most definitely  ...

[umterp23]

I had to chuckle that this is considered one his best big-league seasons... for what reason?  He had career high homers in 28.  He played in 56% of the games since he will be out the rest.  K rate was 34%.  Is that enough from a $10MM a year guy?  To play in 56% of the games with a pretty fair amount at DH isn't quite the impact I was looking for.  Once you have surgery on a knee, most likely more to come, hope not though.  We always when healthy he could be best CF in the game, WHEN will be the key phrase.  Hope for a good recovery that doesn't linger next year.  Track record of our guys having season ending surgeries and then next year looking back to normal hasn't been good.

[ashbury]

Who had that on their Bingo card?  Buxton, knee surgery... Wait... am I hearing, "everybody"?

 

[Danchat]

3 hours ago, umterp23 said:

I had to chuckle that this is considered one his best big-league seasons... for what reason?  He had career high homers in 28.  He played in 56% of the games since he will be out the rest.  K rate was 34%.  Is that enough from a $10MM a year guy?  To play in 56% of the games with a pretty fair amount at DH isn't quite the impact I was looking for.  Once you have surgery on a knee, most likely more to come, hope not though.  We always when healthy he could be best CF in the game, WHEN will be the key phrase.  Hope for a good recovery that doesn't linger next year.  Track record of our guys having season ending surgeries and then next year looking back to normal hasn't been good.

That’s absolutely worth $10M, we are way better with him in the lineup compared to the alternatives. But 7 more years of this… he’s going to miss more and more time.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

The 2023 question will be, who do you have ready to back him up for the 70 games he will not play?

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

Who had that on their Bingo card?  Buxton, knee surgery... Wait... am I hearing, "everybody"?

 

Well duh. It's called the "free space."

[Mark G]

6 hours ago, Danchat said:

That’s absolutely worth $10M, we are way better with him in the lineup compared to the alternatives. But 7 more years of this… he’s going to miss more and more time.

"That’s absolutely worth $10M, we are way better with him in the lineup compared to the alternatives."

Yes, when in the lineup means in CF, not when it means DH.  The occasional solo HR does not compensate for the .224 average, 34% strike out rate, and low RBI numbers, not for 10M (and from now on it will be 15M).  It is worth it when his defense is added to those plate numbers, but he played the field, what, 36 percent of the games?  

Worth is purely a relative opinion; it is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak.  I know, I know, they have the new computer spread sheets figuring out what each win is worth in terms of dollars, etc., but even that is relative.  One owner may buy into that, while another owner doesn't, and that determines what contract offers are made to what players through the years.  I would submit that JP thought Buck's worth was just as much a matter of fan and clubhouse perception as he did the on the field numbers.  And maybe, just maybe, that is the only worth that matters.    

Just one extremely humble observer's thoughts.  

[Whitey333]

Surprised at Buxton being injured?  Of course not.  In 8 years he is almost always injured.  " Team friendly contract?". Get serious.  It's Buxton friendly contract.  To get 100 mil to play part time was a coup on his part.  With his injury situation for 7 of the 8 years I can't imagine a sane major league team paying 100 million to not play most of the time.  Of course this is the Twins we are talking about.  It's hard to make much sense of what they are doing.

[Boom Boom]

For the fans, the team and Buxton himself, it was a very disappointing season.

If Fangraphs pegs Buxton's 2022 worth at $32M, Maybe the Pohlads can take some comfort in that estimated value, but I don't think anyone else will.  

[PDX Twin]

1 hour ago, Boom Boom said:

For the fans, the team and Buxton himself, it was a very disappointing season.

If Fangraphs pegs Buxton's 2022 worth at $32M, Maybe the Pohlads can take some comfort in that estimated value, but I don't think anyone else will.  

By that metric, Judge must be worth $100m and Ohtani $150m?

[David Maro]

No one wants to have surgery,but at least he is getting it done now. To often players wait until January. Then they will be unable to be ready to start the season. Hopefully it goes well and he comes back 100%.

[insagt1]

I will be the pessimist here. He will NEVER come back 100%. It will always be something. Not blaming him...his body betrays him at every corner.  This wasn't a good year for him. He didn't play enough in the field to be impactful, like we all want to see. His HR's weren't game breakers to the extent needed to overcome a poor OBP, a poor BA and a high 'k' count. He was particularly ineffective with RISP.

We all know he played hurt from the beginning. We also know he wants to play everyday. Don't think that will ever happen. I would LOVE to get just one complete season from him, to see how impactful he CAN be. I think that ship sailed. One way.

[D.C Twins]

Here is half of the 'all that is left to do is wait for the inevitable surgery/procedure to be named later for Buxton and Mahle" comment I made a few weeks ago.

Not so fun fact... MRIs are not great at diagnosing thoracic outlet syndrome so a negative MRI for structural damage does NOT rule out TOS for Mahle

Good Luck Buck. I wish you the best, but I also wish that the Twins shut you down MUCH earlier when many in this site questioned the utility of playing a 60% Buck in real time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[D.C Twins]

34 minutes ago, David Maro said:

No one wants to have surgery,but at least he is getting it done now. To often players wait until January. Then they will be unable to be ready to start the season. Hopefully it goes well and he comes back 100%.

Except this was an issue going back to at least May... so no... I'd argue this is actually late...

[Platoon]

"For another offseason, injury questions will surround Buxton even though he was tremendous during the 2022 campaign. Minnesota paid Buxton $9.14 million for the 2022 season, and FanGraphs pegs his total value this year at nearly $32 million. Some fans may say he isn’t providing value to the team on his current contract because of how often he is injured. However, he provided enough value this season to cover his contract for this year and next. "
 

Does one also subtract/average out the WAR, any of the other abbreviated analysis computations, and defensive deficiencies of his replacements to find out what we are actually getting from his contract.  

[Danchat]

8 hours ago, Mark G said:

"That’s absolutely worth $10M, we are way better with him in the lineup compared to the alternatives."

Yes, when in the lineup means in CF, not when it means DH.  The occasional solo HR does not compensate for the .224 average, 34% strike out rate, and low RBI numbers, not for 10M (and from now on it will be 15M).  It is worth it when his defense is added to those plate numbers, but he played the field, what, 36 percent of the games?  

Worth is purely a relative opinion; it is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak.  I know, I know, they have the new computer spread sheets figuring out what each win is worth in terms of dollars, etc., but even that is relative.  One owner may buy into that, while another owner doesn't, and that determines what contract offers are made to what players through the years.  I would submit that JP thought Buck's worth was just as much a matter of fan and clubhouse perception as he did the on the field numbers.  And maybe, just maybe, that is the only worth that matters.    

Just one extremely humble observer's thoughts.  

I’m pretty sure his RBIs are low because he hits lead off most the time, but I don’t have the stats to confirm that. 

[BD57]

We've been running out MAYBE three "projected starters" a game for, what, three weeks to a month now?

Buck is extraordinarily talented, and, for whatever reason, can't stay on field.  I can only imagine how much it frustrates him - seems to have HOF talent, but will never play enough to get considered.

[mnfireman]

6 hours ago, PDX Twin said:

By that metric, Judge must be worth $100m and Ohtani $150m?

Judge $85.7M & Ohtani $70.4M....