The Minnesota Twins are still in sell mode, after their fire sale at the 2025 trade deadline. One of their two top starters, Pablo López and Joe Ryan, could be moved to alleviate their payroll pinch, even after the team reduced spending by roughly $30 million from 2023 to 2024 and by another few million in 2025..
If either López or Ryan is dealt, the Twins’ star center fielder, Byron Buxton, is likely to be moved, as well. People in Buxton’s camp have indicated that, despite previous public comments to the contrary, he is willing to waive his no-trade clause to a contending team, as first reported by Dan Hayes of The Athletic.
Buxton has been very loyal to the Twins, but even the most devoted players can have their patience tested when their team tears down a roster the way the Twins have. Not every team looking to contend in 2026 needs a star center fielder such as Buxton, but the Brewers could use his help.
The Brewers have been playing musical chairs in center field the last two seasons. In 2024, Blake Perkins played 119 games, hitting .240/.316/.332 with six home runs and 32 RBIs over 434 plate appearances. Perkins played more of a backup role this year, and Jackson Chourio ended up playing the most games in center in 2025, with 89.
Chourio’s bat was still solid in his sophomore season, with a .270/.308/.463 slash line, 21 home runs, 78 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases, but he played shaky defense compared to how he’d done in left field in 2024. Chourio went from 12 Defensive Runs Saved in 2024 to -4 this season, according to Sports Info Solutions. The sudden drop off when moving to a more demanding defensive position is a bit concerning, and Buxton had -5 DRS this season with the Twins.
But DRS is not the all-telling stat in defense. Buxton still had plenty of highlight-reel catches in his 118 games played in center field this year. He also has the hardware to back it up, with a Gold and Platinum Glove awarded to him back in 2017. If the Brewers move forward with pursuing Buxton, moving Chourio back to left field would mean finding Isaac Collins a new defensive home, too.
Fortunately for Collins, he is versatile with his defensive positioning, having spent several games at second and third base as well. Even with Buxton on board, it’s easy to envision finding time for him, Chourio, Collins, and Sal Frelick, with Perkins’s role receding to a purer defense-only gig. Alternatively, of course, someone in that mix could be dealt away.
So what kind of trade package would it take for the Twins to be willing to move Buxton, if his no-trade clause gets waived? It’s safe to say the Brewers’ top two prospects, Jesús Made and Luis Peña, are off limits, and the Twins are not in dire need for middle infield help in their farm system. A majors-ready player such as Collins could be someone the Twins would want to help their outfield depth, especially with his hometown connections to the Twin Cities suburb of Maple Grove.
If Buxton does enter the trade market, it might be a package of Collins and a prospect or two that gets a deal done. Pitchers Bishop Letson and Logan Henderson are the types of arms the Twins like, but Minnesota has a bit of a logjam of young pitching. They have other needs the Brewers’ farm system could also address.
The positions where the Twins need the most help are first base, catcher, and the bullpen. While the Twins will likely look within their own farm system for relief help, they do not have many top-rated prospects in the upper levels of the minors for first base or catcher, which would make Jeferson Quero and the Brewers’ first-round pick from the 2025 draft, Andrew Fischer, ideal trade targets for Minnesota.
If a Buxton trade becomes a possibility, then it’s almost certain the Twins would trade their current starting catcher, Ryan Jeffers, as well. Jeffers is a year away from free agency, and with the Twins’ current financial status, he’s not expected to re-sign after the 2026 season. The Twins nabbed a top catching prospect, Eduardo Tait, from the Phillies at the trade deadline for Jhoan Duran, but Tait is still a couple of years away from the big leagues.
Therefore, Quero would be a priority target for Minnesota. He is close to ready for the show, and would be able to take a jump into a starting role with Jeffers gone. Quero was limited to just 69 games in 2025 due to a hamstring strain that delayed the start of his season until mid-May and a shoulder injury in August. He put up decent numbers between the Arizona Complex League (on rehab assignments) and Triple-A St. Paul: a .271/.361/.478 slash line, 11 home runs, 57 RBIs, a 10.9% walk rate, and a 13.6% strikeout rate.
Quero may not be ready for the starting role on a competitive team like the Brewers, but if the Twins truly intend to strip away their best and highest-paid players, then a player of Quero’s caliber would end up being thrown into the starting catcher role without concern for the long-term outcome.
Fischer, on the other hand, will still be a year or two away from the majors and will try out between first and third base. The Twins don’t have a first baseman ranked within their top-30 prospect list, per MLB Pipeline. Nor have they sought out a first baseman to develop internally in the last five years. Fischer may have limited playing time in pro ball, but his profile may be exactly what the Twins need to stop their own first base gap.
Jeff Passan recently reviewed the case on Buxton’s availability and put his trade probability at 35% with López and Ryan both sitting at 50%. The Brewers were not a team listed as a landing spot for Buxton, but they do have the prospect capital to acquire him—more so than other listed teams, such as the Atlanta Braves or Cincinnati Reds.
Much depends on whether the Brewers would be a team for whom Buxton would waive his no-trade clause. It’s his desire to win that is pushing him toward an exit from Minnesota, though, and few teams offer a clearer path to consistent winning than Milwaukee.
Still, if Buxton does become available, a Brewers outfield with Chourio in left, Buxton in center, and Sal Frelick in right might be the best defensive outfield in baseball. More to the point, adding 30-home runs, 30-steals potential into a lineup that had only two 20-homer hitters would put the Brewers over the offensive hump in the National League Central. Buxton has one of the very few things the Brewers currently lack. If they can snare him in a trade, they might be one step closer to unseating the Dodgers as National League champions.