If the Cincinnati Reds are lacking one thing, it’s some thump in their lineup.
How does Byron Buxton sound as a solution?
That’s what Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com has drawn up in a new trade idea.
He doesn’t have Buxton landing with the Reds simply, though. He has come up with a three-team trade concept that also involves the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros.
The Reds would wind up with Buxton, the star outfielder who has only ever known the Twins’ organization.
The Astros would get right-handed pitcher Brady Singer from the Reds.
And the Twins would get two prospects from each team: Tyson Lewis, Mason Neville, Walker Janek and Cole Hrtzler.
“Buxton would be perfect for a Reds team that could use its pitching depth to address a lineup in need,” Castrovince writes. “At roughly $15 million each of the next three seasons, he likely fits their payroll in ways the most prominent free-agent bats do not.”
That bargain contract for Buxton would of course make him appealing to a number of other teams, too, if he gets past the fact that he recently called himself “a Minnesota Twin for life.”
“Singer, who is entering his final year of arbitration, does not fit a Twins team in transition but does fit an Astros team that needs an affordable mid-rotation arm,” Castrovince writes. “So the Reds get an All-Star center fielder coming off perhaps his best season, the Astros address a rotation likely to lose Framber Valdez, while the Twins get prospects from each.”
Castrovince acknowledges that this is a deal that probably doesn’t get done, in large part because Buxton could just veto it. But it’s got a lot of the right concepts to it.
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