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  • Byron Buxton Carted Off Field During Twins Scrimmage


    Tom Froemming

    Byron Buxton was carted off the field during Monday evening's Twins scrimmage after appearing to suffer an injury to his left leg.

    TUESDAY UPDATE: Buxton suffered no structural damage. Buxton suffered a "mid-foot strain." He is considered day-to-day. It is likely that he will wear a walking boot for the next couple of days.

    Image courtesy of © David Berding-USA TODAY Sports

    Twins Video

    "We're at our best with Buck. That's a pretty easy statement to make."

    Those were the words of Twins manager Rocco Baldelli during a brief press conference following Monday night's intrasquad scrimmage.

    Right now, the Twins aren't sure how long they might be without Buxton. In a short season, every game counts extra, but injuries are to be expected. "We also know that we're going to have to have many guys step up over the course of this short season," Baldelli noted. "We're going to be dealing with adversity."

    Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic shared video of Buxton being helped off the field.

    https://twitter.com/AaronGleeman/status/1282813811263770624

    Buxton was icing his ankle, elevating and awaiting more imaging. We should know more tomorrow, but Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported that the Twins are optimistic. That's obviously encouraging, given how severe this appeared to be initially.

    https://twitter.com/HagemanParker/status/1282857050633048064

    Potentially being without Byron is obviously not ideal, but is a familiar circumstance the Twins have found themselves in over the years. Max Kepler has made 97 starts in center field over the past two seasons, so it would be a safe assumption Kepler would be who Baldelli would turn to should Buxton miss any time. Swinging Max to center creates a spot in a corner that would likely be filled by either Marwin Gonzalez or Jake Cave.

    TUESDAY UPDATE: Baldelli was on MLB Network Radio and passed along the news that Buxton did not suffer any "structural damage or injury that they could find."

    https://twitter.com/MLBNetworkRadio/status/1283084193413632002

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    Probably best to wait for the diagnosis before freaking out.
    I have to agree. Of course they're going to be super careful if he even fouls a ball off his foot. If nothing is broken, Let's keep it together. Even if he misses two weeks it's still gonna be all right. We gave all seen him hurt himself before. This was nothing like that. Its gonna be okay.
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    So what happens now? Max slides over and we get Cave/Wade platoon? Or does this open a door for Larnach/Kiriloff?
    I am sure what is gonna happen is Kepler will play center, Rosario will move to right, and Gonzalez becomes the regular left fielder. They have a ton of flexibility but i think we all know the second best cf in the entire organization is still Kepler. (many would be surprised to learn Rosario is 3rd). This is not the end of the world and it doesn't mean Lewis is going to he rushed to the major league roster. If Buxton is not ready by opening day the replacement will be Gonzalez though he won't be in cf. No reason to freak out.
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    I am hoping we see a little of Celestino. Maybe his bat is not quite there yet but it could speed things for him and keep Kep focused on one job. Unless he pulls a Polanco or Arraez surprise it's probably unlikely.

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    Some sports stars have made the transition to Hollywood. It looks like Buxton will be replacing Samuel L Jackson as “Mr Glass” in a series of “Unbreakable” sequels entitled “Very Breakable”.

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    This kid cannot catch a break.  Catches a cleat in the turf.  Not making some crazy catch in a scrimmage but a normal catch and hurts himself.  I hate to call him injury prone, but pretty sure he has injured every body part at this point in his career.  It is not that he has a nagging issue that just does not heal, but something new each time it seems like.  This could not have been prevented from telling him to not go all out, from how it was described that he caught a cleat.  

     

    I hope he comes back quickly for his own sake, not just the Twins.  

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    I have not understood why the twins haven’t acquired a right handed hitting backup outfielder over the last several years. It’s been a need for a while....

     

    Rooker?

     

    The bigger issue is having a guy whose true position is CF being ready. Celestino is still a few years away; the defense is probably good enough already, but he's likely to get overwhelmed at the plate.

     

    Royce Lewis can probably do it, but a) they'd need him to spend at least a chunk of a minor league season learning the position right now...and once he moves to the OF it's hard to see him ever coming back to the INF. And despite Polanco and Arraez being locked in right now in the middle INF, I doubt the Twins are ready to move their top SS prospect out of there.

     

    Dang it, Buxton just may be too injury prone. This sucks. I hope it's just a sprain and everyone (including me) is overreacting.

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    Yeah I think the issue is that with no Sano or Buxton, Marwin can only cover one of those positions. I suppose Tortuga could play first base but he's also on the Covid-DL.

     

    Get used to it. Teams are going to have guys come down with Covid-19 all over the place, there are going to be tons of games where only half the roster is recognizable, I fear.

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    I am shocked - I saw the headline and thought this was a joke or an old post.  It could not happen again and this soon.  I feel sorry for Byron - how frustrating this must be. 

     

    Please - not Marwin.  Let's move down the line and get the prospects on the field if we have to fill spaces.  

     

    Isn't there a real CF in the system?  Celestino?  He is on the 60 man.  I would rather have someone who can field the position than another bat. 

    I have never seen Celestino play, Mike. But from what I have read from Seth and others is that he is a major league ready center fielder now. Because he hasn't yet made the upper levels of minor league ball, his bat isn't ready.

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    CF is unfortunately the one position where the Twins don't have a good replacement waiting in the wings. The only minor league options (Baddoo and Celestino) are at least a year away from realistically being able to compete in the majors, and the rest of the possibilities are corner outfielders who only play center when they have to (Kepler, Wade, and Cave). If Buxton is out for a significant amount of time I'm afraid Lewis is going to be switched to CF and I'm worried that the move would not be good for his career.

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    Rooker?

     

    The bigger issue is having a guy whose true position is CF being ready. Celestino is still a few years away; the defense is probably good enough already, but he's likely to get overwhelmed at the plate.

     

    Royce Lewis can probably do it, but a) they'd need him to spend at least a chunk of a minor league season learning the position right now...and once he moves to the OF it's hard to see him ever coming back to the INF. And despite Polanco and Arraez being locked in right now in the middle INF, I doubt the Twins are ready to move their top SS prospect out of there.

     

    Dang it, Buxton just may be too injury prone. This sucks. I hope it's just a sprain and everyone (including me) is overreacting.

    There has to be some reason why Lewis only played one game at SS in the AFL last year. He played 5 in CF and a dozen or so at 3b.

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    You want Marwin playing center field? Not me. He is pretty much only subsistence level in the outfield at this point

    Actually LF had graded out as his best position over the last few years. Kepler in CF, slide Rosario and his strong arm to RF and put Marwin in LF. Obviously not ideal, but manageable.

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    The reason was that Vidal Brujan from the Rays and Geraldo Perdomo from the D-Backs were the shortstops on the Salt River Rafters.

    I guess I don’t know exactly how the AFL works but I would hope that teams sending guys there would have substantial input as to how they are used. They are there to learn, after all. What’s the point of teaching them the wrong things?

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    A different thought, and players can get hurt in any position, but should Buxton be shifted to a corner to reduce the opportunities for the kamikaze?

    He doesn’t hit enough to justify playing a corner spot.

     

    We’re still talking about a guy with a career OPS + of 87 in 1300 plus MLB PA.

     

    His only value is in playing plus plus defense in CF.

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