Start the Buxton countdown

Even before Aaron Hicks misplayed an eighth-inning flyball/line drive into the winning runs for Texas on Friday, the social media chatter about calling up Byron Buxton was reaching new heights.

Aaron Gleeman perhaps started it a little after noon:

Byron Buxton's first 12 games at AA: .180 AVG, .241 OBP, .300 SLG Byron Buxton's last 45 games at AA: .306 AVG, .373 OBP, .541 SLG He's 21.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 12, 2015

Then Seth Stohs predicted that Buxton would be called up within two weeks.

It can happen any time, as far as I'm concerned. Hicks has dragged his OPS+ up since the last time I wrote about his offensive inadequacies, but .256/.302/.311 is still south of adequate, even for a stellar defensive outfielder. Which, to be fair, Hicks has been, Friday night's error not withstanding.

But I don't think the Twins are going to be knee-jerk about bringing Buxton up. For one thing, he's not on the 40-man roster, so it's not a simple matter of optioning somebody down. They'd have to cut ties to somebody. For another, because he's not currently on the 40, they will want to avoid yo-yoing him up and down. If he comes up next week and struggles, it will cost one of his three options to send him down. They have good reason to want to be as sure as possible that he's going to stick at least through this season.

I've had the All-Star break in my head as the target for Buxton. If the timeline moves up, I certainly won't complain. But I'm not exactly calling for it either.