Minnesota Twins general manager Thad Levine made a rather blunt and surprising admission of the reason behind one of his team’s roster moves, or lack thereof.
The Twins announced that outfielder Byron Buxton will not be recalled before the end of the season. The reason for it is likely service time manipulation. Buxton is two weeks shy of completing a third full season, but by keeping him in the minors for the rest of the year, the Twins gain an extra year of team control through 2022.
While it’s not at all uncommon for teams to manipulate service time, it is quite rare for them to more or less admit it out loud, and that’s exactly what Levine did.
Thad Levine on Buxton: “I think part of our jobs is we’re supposed to be responsible to factoring service time into every decision we make. … We wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we weren’t at least aware of service-time impacts on decisions we make.” #mntwins
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) September 2, 2018
It’s been a rough season for Buxton. He’s been plagued by injuries and hit just .156 in 28 big league games this season. Still, you have to wonder whether Levine admitting this out loud in any form could lead to some sort of grievance on Buxton’s part.
