Byron Buxton

[TURBO]

11 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Buxton has been worth 8.7 fWAR over the past two seasons. He’s not going to be traded for filler. 

All that aside, the injury risk is just too much to handle.

I believe that a trade for Buxton will involve more filler than not because of that injury risk and money owed (even though what he is owed is a great value) Not a chance he is going to land any organization's top 20 prospects.

I know you have ties to the Twins/Buxton, and your personal views on him are different than fans that aren't Twins fans, but Pena is WAY too much to give up for Buxton.

[Brock Beauchamp]

17 minutes ago, TURBO said:

I believe that a trade for Buxton will involve more filler than not because of that injury risk and money owed (even though what he is owed is a great value) Not a chance he is going to land any organization's top 20 prospects.

Do you mean top 20 global prospect or a team's top 20 prospects? Because the former, I agree. The latter is absurd and wrong.

To expand a bit. I think Pena is a bit of a reach for Buxton, but a lot depends on how both the Brewers and Twins view both players. He's in that "20-70" prospect range I think is about what it takes to get Buxton. He's on the higher side, but within the range of expected asks. If a team thinks Pena is a 50 guy, not a 20 guy, well then that changes his value. And the Brewers might be the team that views him that way.

Made is in that untouchable class that's well above what I think is reasonable for Buxton.

[landoc88]

He's making $15 million a year the Brewers can easily come up with the money. Add him period.

[long ball]

Definitely an interesting idea. I don’t follow our prospects as closely as I have in the last, but Id want to keep Made and Peña at minimum. 
 

the high upside of Buxton is intriguing. He probably becomes our best player immediately. The contract is palatable. The contract also runs concurrently with the Yelich deal and ends after the 2028 season. But Turang and Frelick would also be down to 1 year of control at that point and potentially moving on from all 4 of those guys at the same time would be quite the transition. A transition made a lot harder since we would’ve been trading some of our biggest prospects for Buxton in the first place. 
 

I’d guess this is just fun forum chatter rather than a real possibility. 

[Jopal78]

4 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Teams are moving in the other direction, just look at the Dodgers. They're targeting upside with injury risk over lesser stability. Of course, Los Angeles can afford to lean that direction in a way other teams cannot, but baseball is largely coming around to the idea that it's more valuable to have a guy who absolutely dominates when they're healthy than a guy who is pretty okay but plays 150 games a year.

Because if your goal is the postseason, you want to roll the dice on that upside being healthy and available when the time comes.

As a Twins fan you’re understandably failing to appreciate the scope of Buxton’s unavailability. He’s racked up 500 PAs or more in a season twice. That certainly with the Twins trying to manage his workload, keep him healthy etc. . Then compare him to Yelich with all his injuries since 2019, yet Yelich has failed to get 600 PAs just twice since then. 
 

Then to use your point, if theres one team, such as the Dodgers, who doesn’t mind guaranteeing $45,000,000 for, best case scenario, 1500 at bats over 3 years, what do you think the Twins return is going to be with just the one club being interested? Heck if there’s 2-3 teams interested  even.

It’s a preposterous notion the Twins would get much beyond salary relief in any Buxton trade. Which is in truth why he would be traded in the first place: a 90 loss team looking to trim payroll while rebuilding. 

[Lloyd330]

Buxton would immediately be our best player ( if you think not, your being too much of a homer) If Buxton can give us 125 games, thats all i need. 

You start with Pratt, then maybe offer Letson. 

If they are interested in trading Ryan, then i would possibly entertain Pena and some low end guys

[TURBO]

3 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Do you mean top 20 global prospect or a team's top 20 prospects? Because the former, I agree. The latter is absurd and wrong.

To expand a bit. I think Pena is a bit of a reach for Buxton, but a lot depends on how both the Brewers and Twins view both players. He's in that "20-70" prospect range I think is about what it takes to get Buxton. He's on the higher side, but within the range of expected asks. If a team thinks Pena is a 50 guy, not a 20 guy, well then that changes his value. And the Brewers might be the team that views him that way.

Made is in that untouchable class that's well above what I think is reasonable for Buxton.

Like I alluded to, you are a Twins fan, I'm not so sure you are seeing this as clearly as a person who isn't a Twins fan.

Pena is a MAJOR reach in a deal for Buxton unless the Twins eat his entire contract in the trade.  Even then, too many injuries for my taste.

We will agree to disagree, I'm good with that.

[TURBO]

2 hours ago, landoc88 said:

He's making $15 million a year the Brewers can easily come up with the money. Add him period.

The Brewers never EASILY come up with money...

I agree, 15 million per season for 3 seasons seems like something we could handle, but it's not as easy as you seem to think...

Are you new to Brewer fandom?

[Brock Beauchamp]

38 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Like I alluded to, you are a Twins fan, I'm not so sure you are seeing this as clearly as a person who isn't a Twins fan.

Pena is a MAJOR reach in a deal for Buxton unless the Twins eat his entire contract in the trade.  Even then, too many injuries for my taste.

We will agree to disagree, I'm good with that.

I think the inverse is true. Pena is in the low minors while Buxton was a five win player in 2025 and a four win player in 2024. This thread has a lot more prospect-hugging than my misunderstanding of Buxton’s value on the field.

And it’s not like I’m discounting Pena. I said he’s a reach while someone literally said Buxton’s value is SALARY RELIEF. 

[Brewcrew82]

The list of players you trade Made for is very small and plainly doesn’t include Buxton. 

Pena is probably more available due to Qs surrounding his ultimate defensive home and his stint in Appleton. Still, at 18 he’s one of the top 20 or so prospects in baseball, so he’s a reach for 3 years of an injury prone and 30+ (albeit elite) Buxton.

Brewers’ depth can compete with anyone even after those two guys though.

Something along the lines of Henderson and Payne or Pratt and Gasser might convince the Twins to pull the trigger.

Put Joe Ryan on the table and we can discuss Pena.

At least those are my thoughts. I will say I find the notion of Buxton as a pure salary dump to be laughable. You may not be able to count on him for 150 or even 125, but come the postseason he’s a proven difference maker, and the Brewers are as well positioned as any team to promote his health given their high quality OF depth options and their growing need to limit Christian Yelich’s exposure vs LHP. The contract is dirt cheap for the production.

[Madhawk23]

27 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I think the inverse is true. Pena is in the low minors while Buxton was a five win player in 2025 and a four win player in 2024. This thread has a lot more prospect-hugging than my misunderstanding of Buxton’s value on the field.

And it’s not like I’m discounting Pena. I said he’s a reach while someone literally said Buxton’s value is SALARY RELUEF. 

I'm 100% with you on this Brock. If Buxton is in fact traded this offseason (probably not to the Brewers), I think there are quite a few people on this board that will be a bit surprised at the prospect value going back.  

[landoc88]

35 minutes ago, TURBO said:

The Brewers never EASILY come up with money...

I agree, 15 million per season for 3 seasons seems like something we could handle, but it's not as easy as you seem to think...

Are you new to Brewer fandom?

No Im not new to Brewer Fandom ive been around the block with this team. $15 million in today's game is nothing, and the Brewers can afford it. Personally if I was the GM a trade for Jarren Duran would have been done and my outfield would have been Duran, Frelick, Chourio.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, landoc88 said:

No Im not new to Brewer Fandom ive been around the block with this team. $15 million in today's game is nothing, and the Brewers can afford it. Personally if I was the GM a trade for Jarren Duran would have been done and my outfield would have been Duran, Frelick, Chourio.

Buxton's salary is effectively Rhys Hoskins with a guaranteed third year instead of an option. In fact, it's technically LESS than the Brewers signed Hoskins for if you include the mutual option year.

Obviously, the Brewers can afford that because they just did it.

[Madhawk23]

Since I've seen Joe Ryan's name mentioned a few times in this thread, what do people think it would take to get both him and Buxton in a deal?  

Personally, I think it would look something like this:

• Brewers get: Buxton and Ryan
• Twins get: Pena or Pratt (Twins choice), Henderson or Gasser (Twins choice), Dinges and then a lower-level high upside guy like Meccage or Dorchies

[jay87shot]

I would love Buxton, I brought it up and got dumped on a bit a month or 2 ago. I think the contact is manageable and that with Yeli we could kind of 60/40 the 2 between LF and DH and preserve the health of both. At 32, with 3 years left he is a steal. He had a near 5 WAR season in 126 games with below average CF defense (-5 drs). My thought would be that he would still be a plus LF adding to his value and that DH'ing him twice a week would help with his health. With Joe Ryan, Ryan Jeffers, and Pablo Lopez all likely to be gone I can't see why he would want to stay on a team that is going to stink the rest of his contract. 

I would try and offer Pratt, DL Hall, Carlos Rodriguez, and Issac Collins for Buxton (and maybe a bullpen arm like Justin Topa). The Twins get 2 starters who can start this year and have some upside. They get Collins to be a leader and help that young lineup (strange to think he would be a vet on that team with 1 year under his belt), Plus the big upside of Pratt. We really don't lose anything we can't fill in for. Collins would be replaced by Buxton, Hall and CarRod are important depth but with our strong AA pitchers from last year in AAA we can relace them easily, and Pratt is a tough trade but Made, Pena and the overall IF prospect depth makes that a easier trade. In all likelihood, the Twins would probably push to turn Hall or CarRod into a higher upside prospect like Letson which I could be tempted into,

I do think  Buxton is someone that almost every team would check in on. I could even see the Pirates and Marlins looking into him (no trade clause aside) so the price is going to be uncomfortable for someone with his injuries.

[Madhawk23]

10 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

I would love Buxton, I brought it up and got dumped on a bit a month or 2 ago. I think the contact is manageable and that with Yeli we could kind of 50/50 the 2 between LF and DH and preserve the health of both. At 32, with 3 years left he is a steal. He had a near 5 WAR season in 126 games with very CF defense (-5 drs). My thought would be that he would still be a plus LF adding to his value and that DH'ing him twice a week would help with his health. With Joe Ryan, Ryan Jeffers, and Pablo Lopez all likely to be gone I can't see why he would want to stay on a team that is going to stink the rest of his contract. 

I would try and offer Pratt, DL Hall, Carlos Rodriguez, and Issac Collins for Buxton (and maybe a bullpen arm like Justin Topa). The Twins get 2 starters who can start this year and have some upside. The get Collins to be a leader and help that young lineup (strange to think he would be a vet on that team with 1 year under his belt), Plus the big upside of Pratt. We really don't lose anything we can't fill in for. Collins would be replaced by Buxton, Hall and CarRod are important depth but with our strong AA pitchers from last year in AAA we can relace them easily, and Pratt is a tough trade but Made, Pena and the overall IF prospect depth makes that a easier trade. In all likelihood they would probably push to turn Hall or CarRod into a higher upside prospect like Letson which I could be tempted into,

I do think that is a lot but Buxton is someone that almost every team would check in on. I could even see the Pirates and Marlins looking into him (no trade clause aside) so the price is going to be uncomfortable for someone with his injuries.

Pratt would obviously be the centerpiece going back to the Twins and I don't hate the idea of that (as long as the Twins value him).  However, I'm inclined to think that the other three guys you included in the package have little to no trade value.  DL certainly has a little potential yet, but the clock is really ticking for him at this point, and is he really anything more than a reliever (if even that with the velo decrease)?  CRod....AAAA starting pitcher.  And Collins....while a great story for about three months this summer is a guy that most teams aren't going to value much in a trade this winter as I'm sure they're very skeptical (as we would be too) on whether or not what he did those few months is actually sustainable moving forward.  

I know some will vehemently disagree with me on this, but I think it would take a package of something like Pratt, Gasser and maybe you throw in someone like Mitchell as a high ceiling/low floor guy?  

[TURBO]

If we could get Buxton AND Ryan for Pratt, Gasser and Mitchell, I'd be ALL OVER THIS in a heartbeat, so would the Brewers I'd suspect...

[Jopal78]

I guess I’m in the minority here, but Buxton has played in 852 of a possible 1518 games since becoming a full time regular (56%). 
 

I just don’t see overwhelming interest in a player, no matter how talented,  who’s guaranteed to miss time with injuries and has missed over 44% of his team’s games since becoming an opening day regular

[KCBrewerfan34]

Buxton’s injury history scares the Bjesus out of me. If Ryan is included I could be convinced. Would prefer not to put Pena in this deal. 
 

Pratt Gasser Dinges and Dorchies or if we have a competitive pick we could include then yes. 

[wntrtxn21]

I think some Brewer fans are delusional with the weak packages they would offer for Buxton or Ryan and Buxton. With so many teams looking for good starting pitching, Ryan alone would bring in much more. Perhaps some teams would be scared away by Buxton's extensive injury history.  If that happens and the Twins are looking for a straight salary dump, then just maybe they'd listen to a weaker package for him. If the Brewers were to aquire Buxton, I don't see how theys could DH him twice a week. Yelich is going to be a full time DH in 2026.. He played LF maybe 20 times last year and considering his back problems, I don't see him getting even that many games in LF in 2026.  Murphy likes to DH Contreras when he's not catching, and I think he DHs even more in 2026 (maybe against lefties and sits Yelich) to keep him from wearing down late. That leaves almost no time for another DH unless you want Yelich to sit even more. 

[Sugarrayray]

I could see Pratt, Wilken, and Hendershot getting the job done for Buxton eh?

[Underachiever]

Guarantee me that some of the 125 games that Buxton plays in occur in September or the playoffs. If he’s just the annual late-season gut-punch Brewer injury, I don’t need him

[Jopal78]

On 11/15/2025 at 9:33 PM, Underachiever said:

Guarantee me that some of the 125 games that Buxton plays in occur in September or the playoffs. If he’s just the annual late-season gut-punch Brewer injury, I don’t need him

Fixed it for you: Guarantee me that some of the 85 games that Buxton plays in occur in September or the playoffs. If he’s just the annual late-season gut-punch Brewer injury, I don’t need him

[BigWoo53]

I am personally surprised how many of you would trade multiple top prospects for Buxton. I am not clutching them but Buxton just isn't who I'd move a number of them for. As said earlier, I think to get off his salary the Twins would move him for much less than mentioned. No way Pena or Made. Even Pratt imo. However, if Ryan is included the package takes a dramatic increase and it's probably Pratt, Henderson, Boeve, maybe another lower prospect as well. 

[gregmag]

On 11/13/2025 at 1:01 PM, Brock Beauchamp said:

I think the inverse is true. Pena is in the low minors while Buxton was a five win player in 2025 and a four win player in 2024. This thread has a lot more prospect-hugging than my misunderstanding of Buxton’s value on the field.

And it’s not like I’m discounting Pena. I said he’s a reach while someone literally said Buxton’s value is SALARY RELIEF. 

Well, you’re not discounting Pena, but then you are. First you literally discount him by saying he’s in the “20 to 70 range” of MLB prospects, which is kind of like saying that the Brewers were one of the top three or so teams in the NL Central last year. Then you say Pena would be a reach for Buxton. Then you say not wanting to trade Pena for Buxton amounts to “prospect hugging,” which BTW is every bit as mature and nuanced as just calling you a Twins homer and being done with it.

Buxton’s a walking (on his good days) MASH unit who, at 31, just topped 400 PAs for the first time since he was 23. Players tend to decline, and to get hurt more not less, in their 30s. Anyone who isn’t predicting substantial decline for Buxton next year, and pricing his trade value accordingly, is delusional.

That said, he’s a good fit, he’s pretty cheap, and the Brewers have outfield depth to backstop his inevitable two-month injury. I’d offer Adams or Wilken, Hall, Lockridge to fill Buxton’s roster spot, and somebody like Jose Anderson or Griffin Tobias.