With rumors of the Twins potentially operating as deadline sellers swirling amid this year’s All-Star break, star center fielder Byron Buxton publicly indicated that he had no desire to waive his full no-trade clause and looked forward to being a Twin for the rest of his career. Minnesota indeed went the route of the seller and did so with far more vigor than anyone might’ve foreseen. The Twins shipped out ten players, including shortstop Carlos Correa (signed through at least 2028) and a quartet of controllable relievers: Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland and Brock Stewart. Even after their aggressive roster purge, Buxton has doubled down on his full intention to remain in Minnesota.
“Just because we go through these tough roads … it is what it is,” Buxton told reporters two days after the trade deadline (video link via Twins.TV). “We’ll be better once we get on the other end of it and figure things out a little bit more. End of the season, we’ll talk a little bit more, but I ain’t going nowhere.”
Some may latch onto Buxton’s comment about talking “a little bit more” at season’s end, but Buxton was even more emphatic when chatting with Dan Hayes of The Athletic:
“It’s always good to be wanted. Don’t get me wrong. But the only place I want is Minnesota. All of my choices are easy. I ain’t got but one place on my mind. That’s how it’ll be.”
Hayes reports that six or more teams reached out to Buxton’s agent to gauge the outfielder’s willingness to waive his no-trade protection as Minnesota embarked on a far broader-reaching teardown than anyone anticipated heading into the deadline. Both the Braves and the Mets had particularly strong interest, per Hayes. Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets that the Padres were also among the teams to inquire, as one would expect, given president of baseball operations A.J. Preller’s tendency to check in on virtually every high-profile name that hits the market. Obviously, Buxton was uninterested in pursuing a change of scenery.
Buxton, 31, is in the fourth season of a seven-year, $100MM contract extension that covers the 2022-28 seasons. He’s being paid $15MM annually, though the contract contains up to $8MM of yearly incentives based on MVP voting and a potential $2.5MM of annual bonuses based on plate appearances. Of course, if the talented but oft-injured Buxton were ever to stay healthy for a full season and max out those incentives with an MVP win, he’d still be a bargain even at the inflated $25.5MM in that given season.
The 2025 season is among the best of Buxton’s career to date. He’s hitting .282/.343/.561 with 23 home runs, 14 doubles, four triples, 17 steals (in 17 tries), an 8% walk rate and a 26.6% strikeout rate in 364 plate appearances. By measure of wRC+, he’s been 45% better than league-average from an offensive standpoint, and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (+4) views him as a continually strong defender (though Defensive Runs Saved has a -1 mark on him — the first negative of his career). Statcast measures Buxton’s average sprint speed (30.2 ft/sec) as second best in the game, trailing only Bobby Witt Jr.’s 30.3 ft/sec.
Perhaps down the road, Buxton will eventually soften his stance on that no-trade provision, but even in the wake of seeing nearly 40% of the major league roster traded elsewhere, he sounds intent on staying in the Twin Cities.
It’s still not clear how far the Twins’ roster teardown will span when the offseason rolls around. The Pohlad family, which has owned the team for four decades, is exploring a sale of the franchise. That clearly played a major role in the team’s deadline flurry — particularly in the move to trade away Correa (a move that trimmed more than $70MM off the long-term payroll). If there’s a new owner in place or an agreement to sell the club, perhaps the new group will be willing to spend and make a renewed push for contention next year. If the Pohlads remain in place, it seems plausible that veterans like Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Ryan Jeffers and Bailey Ober could all find themselves on the market with an eye toward further scaling back the financial commitments a new owner would be inheriting.