Gemini star Byron Buxton he did his best to shut down trade talks last week, repeating his longstanding position that he has no interest in waiving his no-trade clause. Minnesota’s front office is apparently on that page.
“We have no plans to trade Byron,” general manager Jeremy Zoll told reporters (via Dan Hayes of The Athletic and Betsy Helfand of The St. Paul Pioneer-Press). “It’s not something we’re testing. It’s not something we’re planning to test. … He wants to be here. We want him to be here. I think getting that out there makes a lot of sense, especially considering a lot of speculation is being thrown around without roots in reality.”
Minnesota finds itself in the middle of a muddy picture in the American League. They are four games under .500 but only two out of a Wild Card spot and within 3.5 of the White Sox and Rangers in the AL Central. Buxton dominated the program, hitting an AL-best 25 home runs with a .275/.333/.596 slash line through 306 plate appearances. Durability is always a question mark, but Buxton has a shot at a top-three MVP finish if he has a healthy season.
Front office personnel are rarely outspoken about taking players off the trade market. In those rare cases, they almost never reverse course. It is very different when the Tribes trade Juan Soto less than two months after then-manager Mike Rizzo said they wouldn’t, but Soto has rejected a reported $440MM extension yet.
Zoll’s comments are a marked change from last summer. While there is no indication that the Twins have actually considered moving Buxton, they have not made a public statement about it. That seemed to upset the two-time All-Star, who expressed frustration about it when he arrived at camp in February.
“All it takes is for someone at the top to go to the media, ‘We’re not trading,'” Buxton said at the time (link posted by Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star-Tribune). “The trade rumors are stopping and now we don’t have those discussions. This could be easy.” Apparently it wasn’t a long-term relationship between player and club, but it may not be a coincidence that Zoll went on record to dispel any speculation on this one.
Buxton is signed through the 2028 season. He makes a base salary of $15MM but can earn up to $2.5MM annually in plate appearance benefits and has a significant MVP bonus. He will earn $8MM if he wins the MVP, $7MM for finishing second, $6MM for third, $5MM for fourth, $4MM for fifth, or $3MM for finishing in the back half of the top ten. Buxton narrowly missed the deadline last year, settling for 11th place to finish his biggest career — although he collected 1 MM2 plate to reach $ 5. This offseason could be a speculative time for extension negotiations if they want to keep Buxton in Minneapolis for the rest of his career.
There has been some speculation that Buxton might reconsider his no-trade status if the Twins continue the task of rebuilding a burned country. He will turn 33 in December and has only appeared in four postseason career games amid injuries and team turnover. The Twins seemed inclined to renew last summer but backed away from that over the winter, holding off Joe Ryan, Pablo López again Ryan Jeffers.
Tom Pohlad replaced his brother Joe as managing director. The Pohlad family apparently didn’t want to give up all hope of competing in 2026 while at the same time bringing in a few investors to help pay off the huge amount of debt the franchise had accumulated. They also made a rare preseason front office change, as longtime baseball president Derek Falvey stepped down and handed the reins back to Zoll.
Minnesota could have a tough call on what to do with Jeffers and Ryan if they are still a contender at the August 3 deadline. The former is an upcoming free agent who could be a long-shot candidate for a qualifying offer. They control Ryan for one more season through arbitration but will shell out more money if they trade him this summer than hold him through the season or next year.
