Is Manuel Margot, Like, Allergic to Pinch-Hitting?

[bean5302]

Quote

In 2024, the league OPS is .708, and the OPS among pinch-hitters is .625.

Kinda kills any potential "platoon" benefit from pulling your best players for a backup, doesn't it?

[Blyleven2011]

Margot's pinch hitting may be comical ( im not buying it ) ,  but everytime Rocco  inserts him as a pinch hitter I end up laughing , kind of reminds me when Rocco kept trotting out colome a few years ago and the results  were always the same , blown save loss ...

[KirbyDome89]

Margot is about to post a July slash that's in line with his April and May. It was already pointed out, but he's not even an average defender in the corners, and he obviously can't play CF. He's still sitting at a negative WAR 2/3 of the way through the season. There's no reason this team needs to allocate a roster spot to that type of performance....

[TwinsDr2021]

Are people defending Margot based on Margot or to defend the FO and Manager? @chpettit19 has laid it out how bad rostering him has been, and I can't possibility say it any better.

He has been league average as a starter (102 OPS+ and .714 OPS) as a sub his OPS+ is 21 and OPS .389, that tells me he should start against a left handed starter and pinch run only in games he doesn't start. If that really the type of player that should be on any roster? If you think this is SSS, his career numbers are (102 OPS and .696 OPS and as a sub 72 OPS+ and .591 OPS)

[USAFChief]

1 minute ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Are people defending Margot based on Margot or to defend the FO and Manager?

Pretty insightful question, IYAM.

[LA Vikes Fan]

I haven't been defending Margot, but I haven't seen an answer yet to the real problem from any one else - who plays LF/DH against a LH starter if nor Margot? Can't be Larnach or Wallner with their less than sterling  OPS of .583 and .143 this year, following a less than impressive .412 and .483 last year, respectively.  The inability to hit LH pitching by those 2 is why Margot is on the roster. I'd love to see him gone or at least only starting against LH pitching and not brought in but we got to have somebody. We can't be in a pennant race and throw Larnach and Wallner out there against LH pitching as almost automatic outs. 

Maybe we dump Margot and the lineup against LH pitching has Castro in LF,  Lee at 2B, Lewis/Santana/Miranda at 1B/3B/DH in various combos, with Martin and Farmer as the RH OF and 2B backup in case of injury. Essentially trading Margot's ABs for ABs for Lee. Not sure that's an upgrade, probably a down grade offensively. Requires Correa back though and I don't know when that will be unless we're comfortable with a Lee/Martin combo in the IF against LH starters. 

I wonder if Margot is a bad option except when considering the other options. . .

[DocBauer]

If I flip a coin multiple times  and it comes up tails each time for 5 consecutive times, it's a fluke. If it comes up tails 24 times, it's either Twilight Zone, or a 2 headed coin. Margot appears to be a 2 headed coin as a PH. At this point, honestly, I think you'd be better off letting a LH bat step in for themselves and hope for the best, hit or BB. And as pointed out, this means said LH hitter hasn't been removed from the game for the later innnings.

After one of the worst starts to a season I've ever seen, Margot has been not only productive, but highly productive against LH pitchers, other than his PH appearances. I've actually seen him make a few good plays in the OF, but generally, he's no better than average out there. And that's probably giving him too much credit. But I can live with that defense as a productive RH hitter who plays about 25-30% of the time. 

The problem is having a guy who's only good for 225-30% of the time as a player. His .494 OPS against RH arms is just criminal. Even as a rookie still feeling his way and not setting the world on fire, Martin has an OPS of .655 against same side arms. Having a RH bat on your team to PH, and to be a force against LHP is pretty smart. But that RH bat should at least be reasonably acceptable against RH arms or you've just dedicated a spot of your 13 position players to a player who should only be on the field approximately 25-30% of the time. That's not good roster building or management.

At this point, I doubt Margot is going anywhere. And to be fair, he's been performing very well in his "normal", non PH role the past couple of months. But going forward, the Twins really need to learn a lesson about a player being rostered that is so limited.

 

[karcherd]

33 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

who plays LF/DH against a LH starter if nor Margot?

Why not Wallner or Larnach and I prefer Wallner.  It is not against the rules to have a LH hitter in the lineup against LH pitching.  And you can site their numbers all day long, but when have they been given a sustained look against LH pitching.  Getting one or two AB's once or twice a week is not going to tell you if they can be close to league average.  The Twins can not turn every LH hitter into a platoon player especially high draft picks, other wise they are wasting those picks.  They should potentially be impact players not platoon players.  And another point having LH hitters in the lineup against LH pitching helps to break it up and give the pitcher a different look rather than using all RH hitters.

[David Maro]

Margot never fit the team,he was brought in by Baldelli who knew him in Tampa.If you do the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result that is the definition of insanity.We now hear that Correa is involved in who to trade for.We all remember his idea of trade for his friend Lopez.It is time to move on from Margot just like they did with Lopez.

[Riverbrian]

15 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I haven't been defending Margot, but I haven't seen an answer yet to the real problem from any one else - who plays LF/DH against a LH starter if nor Margot? Can't be Larnach or Wallner with their less than sterling  OPS of .583 and .143 this year, following a less than impressive .412 and .483 last year, respectively.

Can't have everything with a 26 man roster would be my answer to the real problem you list. 

I haven't seen an answer to why Larnach and Wallner against left handers is more worrisome than Margot against Right handers.

Margot has 110 AB's against Right Handers. OPS .489

Compared to 96 AB's against Left Handers.  

Margot has done a nice job against left handed pitching.

How do we stop giving back those gains when he faces right handed pitching more often?  

 

[Maybe Next Year]

On 7/26/2024 at 7:21 AM, Whitey333 said:

Nice article.  Baldelli is one of the most confusing and stubborn managers ever.  He continues sending Margo up there in pinch hitting and watch him fail in that role.  Sheer stubbornness.  Just like not letting some lefties bat against lefty pitchers.  How can you expect your young players to become solid major league players if they aren't allowed to bat against lefties?  It makes no sense.  This is what separates Baldelli from the great managers.  He's locked in to his system and is inflexible to actually managing a game.  If the Twins had an actual manager I think they would be well in first place.

Baldummy needs to go. He doesn’t develop players, players do not know their roles as he keeps changing everything from batting order to positions and he can’t manage a pitching staff. Rocco- please take your computer and your total lack of baseball sense and leave. Please!

[Andrew Bryz-Gornia]

On 7/26/2024 at 9:49 AM, chpettit19 said:

Pinch hitting is a specific skill. Ignoring his current season and career pinch hitting numbers would be a foolish use of data. Similar to DHing. It's a different mindset and skill. Ignoring a player's numbers as a DH vs a position player would be foolish.

66 plate appearances before the season tells you he can't pinch hit? Seriously? That's like 16 games-worth of plate appearances for a full-time player. 

[chpettit19]

15 hours ago, Andrew Bryz-Gornia said:

66 plate appearances before the season tells you he can't pinch hit? Seriously? That's like 16 games-worth of plate appearances for a full-time player. 

Didn't say that. Said ignoring his PHing numbers would be a bad use of data. The nature of pinch hitting is a small sample size situation. Like relievers. If you can't excel in those small samples you shouldn't do it. 

He has a .149 BA in 96 pinch hitting plate appearances. A .448 OPS. He is not a good pinch hitter and it's abundantly clear. 

If your pinch hitter is going to OPS .448 you're losing the advantage. Twins left handed hitters have a .600 OPS against left-handed pitchers in 107 plate appearances this year. If 107 PAs of .600 OPS is enough to determine the lefties shouldn't hit lefties then 96 PAs of .448 OPS should be enough to determine Margot shouldn't pinch hit.

And it took about 25 plate appearances at the start of the year to determine Wallner shouldn't have been in the majors at that point. You don't have to let someone suck for 200 PAs before you make a decision on them not being good enough.