Byron Buxton Could Rehab with Saints This Weekend But Don’t Ask Rocco Baldelli About It

Byron Buxton is progressing along in his rehabilitation effort and is now expected to return to the Minnesota Twins lineup, from his hip injury, much earlier than first expected. Twins president, Dave St. Peter said on WCCO Radio this morning, that you might even see Buxton playing centerfield in St. Paul this weekend should you buy a Saints ticket.

Buxton’s expected return was (mostly) confirmed by Darren Wolfson today on SKOR North radio, who said Buxton is expected back as early as this weekend. But if not, the Twins expect him ready by next week for sure. Don’t ask Rocco Baldelli about the injury, though. Dan Hayes (The Athletic) did and Rocco described the situation quite differently than what St. Peter did.

According to @twinsprez, this weekend, @OfficialBuck103 maybe playing centerfield for the @StPaulSaints!
Listen to the President of the @Twins talk with Mike Max. https://t.co/KqtTTGcZOG @MillerStrib @dohyoungpark pic.twitter.com/mdS6u5iIKD

— News Talk 830 WCCO (@wccoradio) May 20, 2021

Rocco Baldelli described Byron Buxton's rehab as being "more on the light side of things. He’s started to move around. Exactly what all of those movements are, those are going to change on a day-to-day basis so he still has some work to do & some time before ramping up." #MNTwins

— danhayesmlb (@DanHayesMLB) May 20, 2021

Untrustworthy Rocco

If St. Peter wouldn’t have spoken up this morning on the radio, I might be panicking right now. ‘Buxton’s just starting to move around’? Instead, the day seems positive and Baldelli just seems like a liar. At the end of the day, it’ll just be nice to get Buxton back into the Twins lineup. Baseball is more fun to watch when he’s on the field and fans around here deserve at least that.

The comments from Baldelli aren’t even surprising anymore. Sometimes, I swear he hates when his best players are available to him. We’re talking about the same coach who’s tried burying the seasons of Alex Kirilloff, Josh Donaldson and Byron Buxton all in the same year.

Since then, Donaldson has put his calf issues behind him (for the time-being) and Alex Kirilloff, after seeking a second opinion in order to avoid surgery, is already hitting homeruns for St. Paul weeks before we were told he’d be able to do so. Now, Buxton is ahead of schedule too (even if Baldelli refuses to admit it).

At this point it’s become quite clear that Rocco Baldelli just isn’t a trustworthy source on player injuries.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan