Byron Buxton on his no-trade clause: 'I'm a Minnesota Twin for life'

Twins center fielder Byron Buxton is in the midst of the finest season of his career, having been named to the All-Star team (and selected to compete in the Home Run Derby) after hitting .289/.351/.574 with 21 homers and 17 steals through 78 games (333 plate appearances). With the Twins underperforming as a whole and the team facing payroll constraints, some fans have hoped and wondered whether Buxton might become available via trade. The outfielder put any such talk to bed at this week’s All-Star festivities.

“I’ve got a no-trade clause,” Buxton said after being asked about the possibility of perhaps someday playing for his hometown Braves (link via Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune). “I’m a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my life. That’s the best feeling in the world, knowing when I walk into the clubhouse every day, it’s going to say Twins. I love Minnesota — that’s home. … I don’t want to play anywhere else. The team, the people, the city — they made me who I am and made me a part of it there.”

Buxton’s no-trade clause was a known element of his contract, but it’s hardly uncommon to see players waive their no-trade protection. There’s no such consideration for the 31-year-old Buxton, it seems.

We’re at the midway point of Buxton’s seven-year, $100M extension with Minnesota. That contract bought out Buxton’s final year of arbitration eligibility and locked in six free-agent seasons at $15M annually. The on-field results have been excellent thus far, with the former No. 2 overall pick hitting .250/.321/.516 with 84 homers, 39 steals and plus center field defense so far — save for the 2023 season, when he was limited to DH work due to ongoing knee troubles. (He underwent a second knee surgery following that season.)

The caveat with Buxton, of course, is that said production has come in a limited capacity. He’s long stood out as one of the game’s most talented but also most frequently injured players. Some of that stems from the reckless abandon with which he plays defense, but Buxton has suffered injuries on all sides of the game over his career. He’s only reached 100 games played in a season on two occasions and has only once accrued more than 400 plate appearances in a season.

The frequency of Buxton’s injuries played a role in dictating the unique nature of his contract. He’s being paid $15M per year from 2023-28 but can boost that number all the way to $25.5M based on plate appearances and MVP voting in any given season. The contract pays Buxton a $3M bonus if he finishes between sixth and tenth in MVP voting, $4M bonus for finishing fifth, $5M bonus for finishing fourth, $6M for finishing third, $7M for second and $8M for winning an MVP Award. He also receives a $500K bonus for reaching each of 502, 533, 567, 600 and 625 plate appearances in a given season.

So far, those incentives have yet to come into play, although he’s well on his way to locking in some extra earnings in 2025 if he can remain on the field. Buxton ranks sixth in the American League in WAR, per Baseball-Reference, and is tied with Houston’s Jeremy Pena for seventh in FanGraphs’ version. He’s been on an absolute tear of late as well, hitting .343/.408/.741 with 11 homers over his past 120 plate appearances (including a five-hit game in which he completed the cycle in the penultimate game of the season’s unofficial first half).