{"id":668341,"date":"2026-04-07T12:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668341\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:54:19","slug":"the-longer-byron-buxton-stays-the-harder-it-gets-to-imagine-him-leaving-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668341\/","title":{"rendered":"The Longer Byron Buxton Stays, the Harder It Gets to Imagine Him Leaving – Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThere are moments in a franchise\u2019s history that feel bigger than the box score. On Sunday, the Minnesota Twins took time to recognize one of those moments as Byron Buxton<\/a> reached 10 years of Major League service time. It’s the kind of milestone that speaks less about a single season and more about everything that came before it.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Buxton, the journey to Sunday’s celebration was winding and perilous. It included injuries, setbacks, and questions about what could have been. Eventually, though, it brought him to a secure place among the most accomplished players in franchise history.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tReaching a decade of service time is rare territory. Fewer than 10% of players get there, and the list of those who have done it exclusively with the Twins is a roll call of legends. Kirby Puckett<\/a>. Rod Carew<\/a>. Joe Mauer<\/a>. Kent Hrbek<\/a>. Tony Oliva<\/a>. The names carry weight because of what they meant to winning baseball in Minnesota.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBuxton is now part of that group, and has the statistical resume to back it up. He sits sixth in franchise history in stolen bases, ninth in home runs, and continues to climb in multiple categories that reflect both longevity and impact. Those numbers tell the story of a player who has produced when healthy and electrified when at his best.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, he was rarely healthy for much of that time, and because he was often playing through something even when he was on the field, he hasn’t always been able to demonstrate his best. After he debuted in 2015, he struggled to overcome the injuries that often disrupted his seasons. He was optioned back to the minors for stretches of both 2016 and 2018, which delayed his reaching the 10-year service mark until 2026. For some players, those detours derail everything. For Buxton, they have become part of the story that makes this moment resonate more.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt’s not just about 10 years. It’s about everything he had to push through to get there. That perspective makes what he did in 2025 feel even more important. Buxton delivered the best season of his career, earning an All-Star selection, taking home a Silver Slugger, and finishing 11th in the American League MVP race. He showed what the fully realized version of himself looks like over an extended stretch\u2014power, speed, defense, and a presence that changes games.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThough Buxton is off to a slow start in 2026, nothing about his standing within the organization has changed. A brief injury scare over the weekend served as a reminder of how quickly things can feel uncertain, but his return to the lineup just as quickly reinforced how central he is to everything this team does and how fiercely he wants to be on the field whenever possible.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNone of that quite guarantees that Buxton will spend the balance of his career (or even the balance of his contract, which runs through 2028) in Minnesota. Nor do his 10-and-5 rights (all players who reach 10 years of big-league service and have had five years of continual service with one team have the right to refuse a trade) or the no-trade clause in his contract, which rendered the wait for those rights moot and shielded him from being dealt at last summer’s fire sale. The team’s future is unclear, and they might approach him this summer (or later on) about the possibility of moving him.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Buxton says he wants to spend his entire career in Minnesota, though, it doesn’t sound like a generic answer. It sounds like a player who understands exactly what this uniform means, and what it would mean to finish what he started.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the Twins, that reality matters. Trading a superstar is always difficult. Trading one who has become a bridge between eras; who is climbing leaderboards next to Hall of Fame names; and who has endured everything in a Twins uniform is something else entirely. It’s not just a baseball decision. It’s a cultural one.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Buxton continues to add to his resume, those decisions only get harder. At some point, the conversation stops being about what you could get in return and starts being about what it would mean to let a player like this finish somewhere else.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tRight now, Buxton isn’t just building a career. He’s building a case to be remembered alongside the greatest players this franchise has ever seen. With every milestone, every highlight, and every season that adds to his story, the idea of him wearing anything other than a Twins jersey feels a little less realistic\u2014or at least a little less tolerable.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat stands out about Buxton\u2019s 10 years with the Twins? Is there a scenario where Buxton could be traded? Leave a comment and start the discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are moments in a franchise\u2019s history that feel bigger than the box score. On Sunday, the Minnesota…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,2223,822,60,3190,4,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-668341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-byron-buxton","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-twins","12":"tag-minnesotatwins","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116363530402411682","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}