The Minnesota Twins didn’t look to be the most aggressive sellers at the trade deadline for the weeks leading up to it, but they shocked the baseball world when they made a plethora of huge deals.
Minnesota quickly turned itself into an uncompetitive ball club, despite the fact that it had quite a bit of talent on the roster before August.
As a result, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller recently predicted that the Twins could trade star outfielder Byron Buxton in the offseason.
“Turning Buxton into prospects would not only expedite this rebuild, but it would also open the door for top prospect Walker Jenkins to take the reins in center field just as soon as he’s ready for the big leagues,” Miller wrote. “Buxton is having the best season of his career, already setting high watermarks for both runs and RBI, almost certain to reach new bests in both hits and home runs, if he stays reasonably healthy.
“Those last five words always have been the rub with Buxton, and $45M for three years’ worth of a soon-to-be 32-year-old, injury-prone center fielder might make a lot of teams balk at trading for him. But quality center fielders are so scarce these days that even the medical history wouldn’t stop a few of the bigger market clubs from aggressively pursuing him.”
During the season, Buxton shut down the trade rumors by reminding the media that he has a no-trade clause and seemed unwilling to waive it for a trade to any team.
But with the Twins seemingly opting to rebuild, this could quickly change. While Buxton might love Minnesota and the franchise, it’s unlikely that he’s going to want to spend the last years of his prime playing for a team that isn’t seriously trying to contend.
More MLB: Kyle Tucker $500 Million Deal? Cubs Free Agency Buzz Already Turning Heads
The post Twins $100 Million Platinum Glove Star Among Stars Dubbed ‘Most Likely’ to Be Traded appeared first on Newsweek.
