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Twins notes: Byron Buxton banged up, Alan Roden ready, Ryan Kreidler vs. Tristan Gray

Plus, losing left-hander Anthony Banda to a months-long injury makes the Twins' bullpen mess even worse while also removing a trade deadline asset.

Twins notes: Byron Buxton banged up, Alan Roden ready, Ryan Kreidler vs. Tristan Gray
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Byron Buxton's hip problems have popped up again. He's been diagnosed with an impingement and the early indication — via Matthew Leach of MLB.com — is that the Twins are hopeful it's similar to last time, when he sat out five games in mid-May but was able to avoid the injured list.

After spending so much of his career on the injured list, Buxton has become very determined to remain on the active roster if at all possible in recent seasons, and the Twins have generally given him the leeway to do so even if it means missing a week of action compared to the minimum 10-day stay on the IL.

And it's tough to argue much with the results. These last three seasons are by far the healthiest and most productive era of Buxton's excellent career. He's on pace to play 100-plus games for the third consecutive year, after doing so only once in his first nine seasons, and he currently has the league's second-most homers.

Regardless of whether Buxton is able to return from the hip issue after missing a handful of games again or he eventually requires an IL stint, it would make sense for the Twins to call up Alan Roden from Triple-A St. Paul for outfield help. Roden call play all three outfield spots and he's been on fire for the Saints offensively.