Buxton day to day, possible for Opening Day

MINNEAPOLIS -- When Byron Buxton left Target Field on Tuesday, he was walking on his own, without the need of a protective boot around his left foot following the diagnosis of a mid-foot sprain earlier in the day. Not long after the Twins' center fielder was taken off the playing field on the back of a cart on Monday, there's already cause for "good spirits" around the team, manager Rocco Baldelli said.

"I think there's definitely a good amount of hope that Byron will be out there on Opening Day, but we're going to wait and see how he feels," Baldelli said.

Buxton is considered day to day with the injury. As is his custom, Baldelli declined to offer any specific timeline for Buxton's return to the field, but the Twins' skipper said that Buxton was already feeling better and moving around more effectively on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Buxton sustained the injury during the third inning of an intrasquad game on Monday, when he tracked a Nelson Cruz fly ball toward the warning track in right-center field before he suddenly fell to the grass while changing direction. Right fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. immediately called for the training staff, and athletic trainer Matt Biancuzzo examined Buxton for several minutes before the cart arrived.

Buxton underwent off-site imaging on Monday night, and it did not reveal any structural damage to the area.

"We got very good results from the imaging," Baldelli said. "We think Buck's going to be good to go going forward, but in time."

The Twins don't expect Buxton to imminently return to the field in the coming days, but 10 days still remain before the club opens the regular season against the White Sox on July 24, leaving some time for recovery. Though Baldelli didn't rule out the possibility of Buxton being ready for action by then, much will depend on how the situation evolves before the end of the week, and the Twins have approached Buxton's health with a strong degree of caution this season.

"We're going to make sure that Buck can get out there and run like himself," Baldelli said. "First of all, Buck would play with probably anything and say that he was good. But being the type of player that he is -- someone that is going to have to take advantage of his legs and his athleticism -- we want to make sure, going into the season, that he's OK."

Wade saw more time in center field during Tuesday's intrasquad scrimmage in Buxton's absence, with Max Kepler mostly playing his customary right-field position. If Buxton's injury keeps him off the field beyond Opening Day, Baldelli could have some short-term personnel questions on defense.

According to Statcast's metrics, Kepler was far and away the second-best defensive outfielder on the roster behind Buxton last season, as he was worth 7 outs above average, as compared to Jake Cave's 2 outs above average and Wade's minus-3. The Twins did show a preference for using Kepler in center field and moving Cave or Marwin González into a corner spot for most of the season, but when Wade arrived late in the year, he made the majority of his defensive appearances in center.

Considering that Buxton's injury may not keep him out for the long term, the Twins have the options of either keeping Kepler in right and playing Wade in center, or moving Kepler to center and sliding Cave into right. Though Baldelli had expressed concerns about the increased physical toll of the position on Kepler's body, the short-term nature of Buxton's injury could make that less of a factor, which would allow the Twins to get Cave's superior bat into the lineup.

Those considerations will undoubtedly be discussed among Twins leadership in the days to come, but the best-case scenario, of course, is for that not to be an issue. And in that regard, the Twins remain cautiously optimistic.

"It may be a couple of days before [Buxton is] out there again," Baldelli said. "It could potentially be maybe even a little bit longer than that. There's no way to know for sure. We're going to let it play out and see how he feels tomorrow, and we're going to start there. We'll definitely take the results that we got. That's for sure."