With free agency getting more cutthroat and teams scrambling through trades, there aren’t many MLB players left who truly stay loyal with one franchise for life. That kind of loyalty, especially from someone with sky-high potential, is worth holding onto. But yet, some teams still manage to fumble it. The Twins are starting to look like the prime example.

After last season’s fire sale at the trade deadline, even their longest-tenured star, Byron Buxton, doesn’t sound confident about his future in Minnesota. And it’s gotten to the point where Buxton has openly voiced his frustration. He called out the team for failing to shut down the trade rumors swirling around him.

“All it takes is for somebody at the top to go to the media, ‘We’re not trading you,” Buxton said. “Trade rumors stop, and now we don’t have those conversations. That’s how simple this could get.”

Well, the Buxton trade chatter has gone so far off the rails that it’s now spilling into mock trades. One recent MLB mock even had the Mets landing Buxton from the Twins in a three-player deal. It’s all hypothetical, of course, but that hasn’t stopped the noise, and Buxton clearly isn’t thrilled about it. All he asked for was an official confirmation from the team that no trading is involved. But nothing happened in reality.

And if you remember, this is the same guy who, at last year’s All-Star Game, doubled down on where he stands.

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“I’m a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my life,” he said without hesitation.

But what’s more surprising is that Buxton has a no-trade clause baked into the seven-year, $100 million contract he signed back in 2021.

Even with that protection, reports say Buxton felt disrespected that the Twins never really stepped in to shut down the rumors this past offseason. And honestly, it’s not hard to see why he’d feel that way.

In today’s sports landscape, loyalty doesn’t guarantee security anymore. No matter how long a player has been with a team or what they have accomplished, it can feel like everyone is still expendable.

On the field, though, Buxton has done his part. In 2025, he put up a .264 average with 35 HRs, 83 RBIs, 24 steals, and a .878 OPS. Numbers good enough to earn him his first Silver Slugger Award. Still, even that kind of season apparently isn’t enough to completely quiet trade speculation.

From the Twins’ perspective, a good trade deal involving a dominant name is always on the table.

But with the season right around the corner, all this unresolved rift could start to matter. Why? Because lingering rumors and silence from the front office can create a gap.

And once players start thinking beyond their initial loyalty to the team, any franchise risks losing the very stars it once built its future around. Because in today’s MLB, frustration doesn’t just stay personal; it turns into leverage, trade whispers, and eventually real movement.

And for the Twins, that tension may not stop at Buxton’s comments alone. It could soon spill into something even more noticeable on the field.

The Twins might also shuffle with Buxton’s position

While Buxton is clearly frustrated that the Twins haven’t done more to shut down the trade rumors around him, the team seems to be looking ahead differently. Minnesota is reportedly considering moving him out of center field and into left!

Why?

Because their top prospect, Walker Jenkins, is expected to make his MLB debut next season. So, the idea is that the Twins could shift Buxton to left field full-time and hand center field to Jenkins. And even if that drop-off comes, Buxton would likely still be more than capable in center. All thanks to how elite his glove is.

But from the Twins’ point of view, this feels like a move about timing and the future. Jenkins is just 20 and seen as a long-term cornerstone, and Minnesota may want to clear a runway for him sooner rather than later. And it’s a sign of where the organization’s head is at.

The Twins appear to be planning for what’s next. And that could mean the 32-year-old slugger is slowly sliding out of the spotlight as the focus shifts to the next generation.