Twins star Buxton to have season-ending surgery

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton will not return this season and could have surgical procedure on his troublesome proper knee.

Derek Falvey, Minnesota’s president of baseball operations, supplied an damage replace on Buxton and several other different Twins gamers earlier than the beginning of the homestand Friday in opposition to the Los Angeles Angels. After Minnesota went 1-7 on its highway journey and fell out of competition within the AL Central, the group made the choice to close down Buxton for the yr.

Buxton, who was named an All-Star for the primary time this season and hit 23 homers in 73 first-half video games, has been out since Aug. 23 as a consequence of a proper hip pressure. However the knee has continued to be a problem, and Falvey stated Buxton could have an arthroscopic “cleanup” surgical procedure to alleviate some scar tissue and fraying.

“The fact is he would not have any tears in his knee,” Falvey stated. “He has some irritation, he has some scar tissue, he has some form of what finally ends up build up over time when you have tendinitis, which is form of fraying areas of a few of these ligaments. … It is to clear that out.”

“So, what finally ends up sometimes occurring is the scar tissue and in any other case creates extra of that irritation if you pound on it. So, now let’s filter out a few of that and hopefully that’ll alleviate a few of that stress going ahead,” he stated.

A date for Buxton’s surgical procedure has not been set, however it should doubtless be subsequent week to set him up for almost a full offseason.

Falvey stated Buxton’s hip is feeling higher and can enhance with relaxation. The knee, and the mix of the 2, finally led to ending Buxton’s season. He completed with a .224 common, 28 homers, 51 RBI and 6 steals in 92 video games.

The group had held out hope Buxton would return this season, however Minnesota began Friday 10 video games behind Cleveland within the division and 9 1/2 video games out of the ultimate wild-card spot.

“I feel as soon as we bought to a sure level during the last form of week or so, and we had been working by means of what the most effective subsequent steps had been, if we had been in a barely totally different place, we’d perhaps push this off a bit additional as a result of in actuality, the return for him shouldn’t be going to be significantly lengthy,” Falvey stated.

“So whether or not we do it subsequent week or we do it two weeks, three weeks from then, he is solely going to be down for a number of weeks of time earlier than he can begin performing some exercise once more,” he stated.

The group had given Buxton routine days off to handle the continued knee bother. He sustained the hip damage on Aug. 22 diving for a ball.

Buxton, who signed a seven-year, $100 million contract within the offseason, has performed greater than 100 video games simply as soon as in his eight-year profession.

“This man, he is been battling by means of challenges over the course of lots of his profession, definitely, however that did not cease this yr, and it began actually early on,” Falvey stated. “I feel the truth that he was capable of get there, combat by means of, have some wholesome stretches, which had been clearly not simply wholesome however extremely productive, I felt like he was actually monitoring OK, and we had been in a fairly good place there.”

Falvey stated the group has not closed the door on a return for second baseman Jorge Polanco, who’s out with left knee irritation. Falvey stated he is additionally hopeful outfielder Max Kepler, out with a proper wrist sprain, can return this season.

Outfielder Trevor Larnach, who was taking part in rehab video games after core muscle surgical procedure, is now coping with wrist soreness.

Tyler Mahle, acquired on the commerce deadline from Cincinnati, will not return as he recovers from proper shoulder irritation. The group is targeted on getting the pitcher prepared for the beginning of subsequent season.