MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins put center fielder Byron Buxton on the 10-day injured list Friday because of inflammation in his troublesome right knee, with guarded optimism his latest absence can be kept to the minimum.
Buxton exited early from the game at Chicago on Wednesday after experiencing soreness in the knee that he's had two surgeries on and limited him to a designated hitter role last season. The discomfort caused him to pull up short while trying to steal second base for a third consecutive time, after the first two attempts were thwarted by foul balls.
“This is a long season. He wants to be in a good place, because he is still dealing with some tenderness and some tightness," president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. "You don’t want to be chasing that every couple of days, so we want to try and get ahead of it here.”
Buxton is batting .250 with eight doubles, one triple, one home run, 12 runs and 11 RBIs in 28 games this season. The Twins recalled multi-position player Austin Martin from Triple-A St. Paul to take his roster spot. Willi Castro was in center field Friday in the series opener against Boston.
Buxton has played more than 92 games only once in 10 years in the major leagues. The 30-year-old played center field in 20 of Minnesota's first 30 games and was the DH in four others, with four other appearances as a sub.
The move was made retroactive to Thursday. Both Falvey and manager Rocco Baldelli said Friday they believe Buxton is on a realistic track to be ready to return when he's eligible May 12, or at least a few days after that. An MRI test on his knee revealed no structural damage.
“He cares so much. In his mind, he does not want to let anybody down, and he wants to just say he’s fine," Baldelli said. "His initial reaction is always to say, ‘I’m good.’ When he can’t say, ‘I’m good,’ it hurts him and we reached that point in the last game where he can’t say it.”
Meanwhile, third baseman Royce Lewis has been “tracking in a pretty good direction,” Falvey said. Lewis, who tore his right quadriceps while running the bases during his second at-bat in the season opener, has resumed swinging in the batting cage, running up to 70% speed and some other light work on the field.
Lewis had a recent checkup that confirmed he's on schedule, but that was hardly comforting to the 24-year-old whose major league career has been limited to 71 games because of two ACL tears and subsequent knee reconstructions.
“Any time I see a doctor, I feel like it’s negative now. I think they say it went just how they expected, but for me, I took it like, ‘I can’t play. It’s bad.’ You know what I mean?” said Lewis, the first overall pick in the 2017 amateur draft. "Unless I can say I can play, it’s all bad news. So that’s where I’m at.”
Lewis said this rehab has been more challenging, mentally at least, than his ACL recoveries.
“The hardest thing is not having a timeline,” Lewis said, adding: "I trust my body to be doing its thing. I heal very fast. If I feel this good, obviously, I can’t imagine what it’s going to feel like in another two weeks or whatever, however long. Hopefully, it’s shorter.”
Noting that the muscle is still in the process of reattaching, Lewis said he understands why the Twins are taking a deliberate approach with his rehab.
“I just miss the game. I would do anything to go play every day, just like I was when I was a little kid,” Lewis said.
The Twins also had an injury pop up to a key reliever, right-hander Brock Stewart, when he was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder tendinitis on Friday. Left-hander Kody Funderburk was recalled from St. Paul to fill in. Earlier in the day, right-hander Jorge Alcala was brought up for the bullpen and right-hander Caleb Boushley was sent down without appearing in a game.
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Minnesota Twins' Byron Buxton, bottom right, is caught stealing second by Chicago White Sox shortstop Paul DeJong during the seventh inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Minnesota Twins' Byron Buxton stands for The Star-Spangled Banner before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Minnesota Twins' Byron Buxton steals second base during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, April 28, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
DJENNE, Mali (AP) — Kola Bah used to earn a living as a tour guide in Mali's historic city of Djenné, once a center of Islamic learning known for the sprawling mud-brick mosque that has been on the UNESCO World Heritage in Danger list since 2016.
The Grand Mosque of Djenné — the world’s largest mud-brick building — used to draw tens of thousands of tourists to central Mali every year. Now it's threatened by conflict between jihadi rebels, government forces and other groups.
Bah says his income was enough to support his family, which now numbers nine children, and to pay for a small herd of cattle. But these days, few visitors come to the city, and he has been largely out of work. When he needs cash, he sells some of his cattle.
Speaking to The Associated Press outside his home in Djenné's old town, Bah said locals believed the crisis would come to an end eventually, and that business would pick up as before.
“But the more time passed, the more this dream proved illusory,” he said. “Things are really difficult now.”
Djenné is one of the oldest towns in sub-Saharan Africa and served as a market center and an important link in the trans-Saharan gold trade. Almost 2,000 of its traditional houses still survive in the old town.
The Grand Mosque, built in 1907 on the site of an older mosque dating back to the 13th century, is re-plastered every year by local residents in a ritual that brings together the entire city. The towering, earth-colored structure requires a new layer of mud before the rainy season starts, or it would fall into disrepair.
Women are responsible for carrying water from the nearby river to mix with clay and rice hulls to make the mud used to plaster the mosque. Adding the new layer of mud is a job reserved for men. The joyful ritual is a source of pride for a city that has fallen on hard times, uniting people of all ages.
Bamouyi Trao Traoré, one of Djenné’s lead masons, says they work as a team from the very start. This year's replastering took place earlier this month.
“Each one of us goes to a certain spot to supervise,” he said. “This is how we do it until the whole thing is done. We organize ourselves, we supervise the younger ones.”
Mali’s conflict erupted following a coup in 2012 that created a power vacuum, allowing jihadi groups to seize control of key northern cities. A French-led military operation pushed them out of the urban centers the following year, but the success was short-lived.
The jihadis regrouped and launched relentless attacks on the Malian military, as well as the United Nations, French and regional forces in the country. The militants proclaimed allegiance to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
Sidi Keita, the director of Mali’s national tourism agency in the capital of Bamako, says the drop in tourism was sharp following the violence.
“It was really a popular destination," he said, describing tens of thousands of visitors a year and adding that today, tourists are “virtually absent from Mali.”.
Despite being one of Africa’s top gold producers, Mali ranks among the least developed nations in the world, with almost half of its 22 million people living below the national poverty line. With the tourism industry all but gone, there are ever fewer means for Malians to make a living.
Anger and frustration over what many Malians call “the crisis” is rising. The country also saw two more coups since 2020, during a wave of political instability in West and Central Africa.
Col. Assimi Goita, who took charge in Mali after a second coup in 2021, expelled French forces the following year, and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance. He also ordered the U.N. to ended its 10-year peacekeeping mission in Mali the following year.
Goita has promised to beat back the armed groups, but the U.N. and other analysts say the government is rapidly losing ground to militants. With Mali's dire economic situation getting worse, Goita's ruling junta ordered all political activities to stop last month, and the following day barred the media from reporting on political activities.
Moussa Moriba Diakité, head of Djenne’s cultural mission which strives to preserve the city’s heritage, said there are other challenges beyond security — including illegal excavations and trash disposal in the city.
The mission is trying to promote the message that security isn’t as bad is it seems, he said, and also get more young people involved in the replastering ritual, to help the new generation recognize its importance.
“It's not easy to get people to understand the benefits of preserving cultural heritage right away,” he said.
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
The streets of old town Djenne, Mali, once filled with tourists, stand empty, Thursday, May 9, 2024. The world's largest mud-brick building, the Great Mosque of Djenne used to draw tens of thousands of tourists every year to central Mali. Now it's threatened by conflict between Islamic rebels, government forces and other groups. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)
The campement hotel, the only working hotel left in Djenne, Mali, sits largely empty, in disrepair without running water, Thursday, May 9, 2024. The world's largest mud-brick building, the Great Mosque of Djenne used to draw tens of thousands of tourists every year to central Mali. Now it's threatened by conflict between Islamic rebels, government forces and other groups. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)
Former guide Kola Bah, who has been unemployed since Mali's conflict started and now sells from his small herd of cattle when he needs to make ends meet, poses for a photograph in Djenne, Mali, Thursday, May 9, 2024. The world's largest mud-brick building, the Great Mosque of Djenne used to draw tens of thousands of tourists every year to central Mali. Now it's threatened by conflict between Islamic rebels, government forces and other groups. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo)
FILE- The world's largest mud-brick building, the Great Mosque of Djenne, Mali, awaits its annual replastering, Friday, May 10, 2024. The Mosque — the world's largest mud-brick building — used to draw tens of thousands of tourists every year to central Mali. Now it's threatened by conflict between Islamic rebels, government forces and other groups. (AP Photo/Moustapha Diallo, File)
