Twins GM just poured cold water on Reds' hopes for ideal trade target

What if the Cincinnati Reds could add a 35-homer bat with Gold Glove caliber defense in center field? The prospect of such a player hitting the trade block should have Nick Krall emptying the farm.

That player is Byron Buxton, who hit .264/.327/.551 while posting 5.0 fWAR in just 126 games last season. There are a lot of hurdles that would need to be crossed, and Buxton's status as one of the most injury-prone players in the game is always a concern.

Still, for a while, it seemed as if the Minnesota Twins might fully embrace a rebuild after selling off some, but not all, of their assets in July, which would then lead to Buxton considering waiving his no-trade clause. For the Reds, that would've been the biggest bang-for-their-buck they could have stuffed into their incredibly tight budget.

Unfortunately, Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll threw a huge bucket of cold water on that idea with his recent comments on MLB Network Radio.

Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll effectively kills the Reds' Byron Buxton dream

Zoll said the team received a lot of calls at the beginning of the offseason about their veteran stars, specifically mentioning Buxton as well as starting pitchers Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez. He made it clear, however, that the club is planning to use those three as the nucleus to bring along their young players.

While Zoll did admit that he expects to receive more calls, he said that their focus is "to build the best team that we can for 2026."

That's about as definitive as one can slam the door, though, as we know, in the MLB, no door is ever completely closed. These decisions don't happen in a vacuum, and while Minnesota might believe that it can hang around in a lackluster AL Central, it has some stiff competition from the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Guardians, and Kansas City Royals.

The Tigers are the real threat. They have money, if they want to spend it, and with Tarik Skubal mired in trade rumors entering his walk year, they could be motivated to make a few big splashes in an attempt to win it all and convince him to stay.

If that were to happen, or if the Guardians or Royals make moves to drastically improve, perhaps the calculus in Minnesota changes and they decide that a rebuild is, in fact, the path they need to take.

Until that happens, it appears that Buxton is off the table, and the Reds certainly can't wait around for them to have a change of heart. Doing so would likely cause them to miss out on other quality alternatives, all for a slim possibility of Minnesota changing their approach. That just seems like a recipe for getting left out in the cold.

As the Kyle Schwarber dream before it, stick a fork in the idea of Buxton coming to Cincinnati. It's done.