Was the Manuel Margot Investment Worth It for the Twins?

[LA Vikes Fan]

14 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

To me, that OF that can hit LH pitching and not look bad against RH pitching is Willi Castro……….Could be Royce Lewis as well.

Gotta assume Lee will play on the dirt for the Twins on a regular basis in ‘25. 3B or 2B?

Keaschall - Julien - Martin …..or somebody new at 2B?

Margot, if he played less and was used more as a straight platoon guy he wouldn’t be so beat up here on TD. Problem is other circumstances have forced Team to use him a bunch.

Buxton hurt early - Kepler hurt early - Larnach hurt early - Correa out 2 different times - Lewis hurt a bunch - Wallner couldn’t hit - Julien couldn’t hit……the infielder issues pulled Castro out of the Outfield. The Outfield issues forced Margot to play more & more. They didn’t sign him with the expectation he’d have 3rd most games played……,he was to be a depth bat and a platoon v. lefties.

I think this is the trad-off for next year - Lee for Margot. Castro and Martin are the backup CFs. If Kepler leaves, than there's one more spot where we could get a defense first CF or promote Keirsey.

[KirbyDome89]

1 hour ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

I would put his games played number due to the high number of injuries the Twins have had, going along with Wallner melting down at the beginning of the year, not to his stellar offensive performance.

The Twins were obviously comfortable feeding him playing time if he was Buxton insurance. What left handed bat were they going to platoon with him in CF?

[D.C Twins]

Why Rocco insists on leading him off not-infrequently boggles my mind.

Getting Margot extra at bats in a game is never the right answer. 

[D.C Twins]

2 hours ago, Road trip said:

If 1 WAR is worth $8 million, Margot is worth -4.8 million this year.  I'm not a financial advisor, but that seems like a poor investment.

But we'll let you play one on TD!

[bean5302]

6 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I think this is the trad-off for next year - Lee for Margot. Castro and Martin are the backup CFs. If Kepler leaves, than there's one more spot where we could get a defense first CF or promote Keirsey.

I can't see a way the Twins can pony up for Castro at $7MM+ in Arb 3 with free agency looming for him, and Brooks Lee is one of the slowest runners in all of MLB (25.8 ft/sec) so he can't really replace Margot directly because there's no chance he could cover an outfield position.

Lee is significantly slower than Trevor Larnach (26.2 ft/sec), and he's even sitting at a sprint speed slower than Carlos Santana (26.0 ft/sec).

I suppose you could move Lee to 3rd base, but Brooks Lee's bat hasn't been MLB worthy, either as Austin Martin has the same OPS as Brooks Lee at a OPS .642. Martin is the better offensive player since he's an asset on the basepaths.

[DocBauer]

15 hours ago, Karbo said:

I agree with you, but I do think after some MLB experience I do expect Martin do be around avg. for the league next season. He's still raw in the OF but again, more experience should make him better.

I guess I have to wonder how much he'll improve? 

No insult to him as I think he's penciled in for a job in 2025 as of right now, I'd just like to see a more proven option brought it.

 

[DocBauer]

On 8/15/2024 at 8:34 PM, JD-TWINS said:

To me, that OF that can hit LH pitching and not look bad against RH pitching is Willi Castro……….Could be Royce Lewis as well.

Gotta assume Lee will play on the dirt for the Twins on a regular basis in ‘25. 3B or 2B?

Keaschall - Julien - Martin …..or somebody new at 2B?

Margot, if he played less and was used more as a straight platoon guy he wouldn’t be so beat up here on TD. Problem is other circumstances have forced Team to use him a bunch.

Buxton hurt early - Kepler hurt early - Larnach hurt early - Correa out 2 different times - Lewis hurt a bunch - Wallner couldn’t hit - Julien couldn’t hit……the infielder issues pulled Castro out of the Outfield. The Outfield issues forced Margot to play more & more. They didn’t sign him with the expectation he’d have 3rd most games played……,he was to be a depth bat and a platoon v. lefties.

Agreed on Margot being used more than expected. But you have to expect and anticipate things like that happening, right?

So that RH bat you have as a reserve should be acceptable against RH arms and Margot just isn't. 

Also agree with Castro as being one if those RH options. And he'll continue to play OF as well. Total agreement there. But I see him as a super utility player, the 10th man so to speak, and not just an OF. Right now, that job next year probably has Martin's name on it. But how much will he improve both with the bat and the glove between now and then is the question. I'd really like to see another option brought in.

Not sure at this moment who that might be. 

[old nurse]

The winner of the hindsight is 20/20 Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda award is Randy Grichuk who’s having a fine year very cheaply for a ball player that the Twins could have signed.. then they could have traded Miller for some front end starting pitching help that the pipeline filled with ramch dressing will prove we did not need anyways