The Phillies may be surging back into the race, but the idea of Byron Buxton joining them is already running into a wall.
Philadelphia has climbed out of its early-season hole and now looks like a club with real life in it, yet the roster still has obvious gaps. The pitching staff needs help in both the rotation and the bullpen, and the lineup could use more outfield support after Adolis Garcia's season-ending injury. The other clear need is a right-handed bat, which is why ESPN’s Jeff Passan floated Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton as a “dream match” for the Phillies.
On paper, it makes sense. Buxton is hitting .271 with a .904 OPS, along with 45 RBIs and 25 home runs in 75 games. He’s a three-time All-Star, including this season, and he won a Gold Glove in 2017.
But the dream may stop there. The Twins do not appear eager to move him, and Buxton has a no-trade clause anyway. When Tim Kelly asked whether he would consider waiving that clause to go to Philadelphia, Buxton shut the door.
“I asked Byron Buxton if there would be any wiggle room on waiving his no-trade clause if the Phillies were interested in trading for him: 'I ain’t going nowhere,'" Kelly wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Minnesota sits at 48-49 and trails the first-place Chicago White Sox by three games in a weak American League Central, so the club is hardly out of the picture. Even so, Buxton remains its best player, and the Twins are only three years removed from an 87-75 season that finished in first place.
Buxton, now 32, is also coming off the best offensive season of his career. In 2025, he posted an .878 OPS with 83 RBIs and 35 home runs in 126 games.
The concern, as always, is health. He has played more than 100 games only three times in his 11 previous MLB seasons, though he has reached 75 games already this year. Right now, he is on the 10-day injured list with a right hip ailment.
Still, if the Phillies somehow found a way to land him, it would be a major boost to their push for their first World Series title since 2008.
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