It wasn't that long ago that the Byron Buxton hype train, or more accurately the Buck Truck, was zooming down the road in ways we haven't seen in years.
Buxont made his triumphant return to the field at the end of Feburary, playing the field for the first time since August 2022. This came as the culmination of hype that had been building all winter, with Buxton declaring he was back while at TwinsFest and riling everyone up that he's in for a bounce back season.
Less than a few weeks later, we're back at square one with Buxton dealing with a potential injury.
According to Twins beat writer Bobby Nightengale, the Twins scratched Buxton from Monday's lineup while he daels with a lower back issue. It's unclear how serious the injury is -- which we don't even want to say out loud and put that energy in the universe -- but it's enough for the Twins to shut him down for at least a day.
Byron Buxton was scratched from the Twins' spring training lineup today with lower right back tightness.
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) March 18, 2024
Hopefully this is just the team being overly cautious, but we've been down this road more than a few times with Buxton.
Last year the Twins hoped to form one of the best defensive duos in the league after trading for Michael A. Taylor. Instead, Buxton was up-and-down with injuries all season while Taylor unexpectedly assumed everyday duties out in center.
Taylor signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates last week, but the Twins already had an insurance plan in place. Minnesota traded for Manuel Margot back in February with the same exact plan that the team had for Taylor a year prior.
We don't know how serious this injury is, but it's less than ideal to have Buxton already getting scratched from the lineup. There's hope that this is just a blip on the radar, but Twins fans know better than anyone how these situations tend to go with Buxton.