The Brewers and free agent outfielder Manuel Margot are in agreement on a minor league deal, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The Wasserman client will be in major league camp for the remainder of spring training. Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel first reported that Margot was in the Brewers’ clubhouse this morning.
Margot, 30, spent the 2024 season with the Twins after being twice traded in the 2023-24 offseason — first going from Tampa Bay to the Dodgers and then going from Los Angeles to Minnesota. The Twins deployed him as a platoon option for lefty-swinging corner outfielders Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner, and they also gave him a handful of appearances in center field when Byron Buxton was out of the lineup. He posted an ugly .238/.289/.337 slash on the season (21% worse than average, by measure of wRC+), but the righty-swinging Margot was productive against southpaws. In 171 plate appearances, he hit .269/.332/.391.
Earlier in his career, Margot was a premium defensive player — one of the top outfield gloves in all of baseball. From 2016-21, he logged nearly 4500 combined innings across all three outfield slots and logged gaudy numbers there: 41 Defensive Runs Saved, 21.6 Ultimate Zone Rating, 53 Outs Above Average.
Margot’s career took a turn in 2022 when he suffered a partial tear in the patellar tendon of his right knee. He missed nearly half the season as a result. Margot hit .302/.365/.423 through the time of that June injury but mustered only a .240/.276/.318 line upon returning late in the year. In 849 turns at the plate since returning from that injury, he’s a .249/.295/.349 hitter. His once-elite sprint speed — Margot debuted with 99th percentile speed in 2016, per Statcast — has plummeted to roughly league-average (53rd percentile last year). The loss in sprint speed, unsurprisingly, is in direct alignment with that knee injury.
While he can still play all three outfield positions, Margot graded out slightly below average with Minnesota in 2024. It’s possible that he’ll regain some quickness as he further distances himself from that 2022 injury, but a return to his 70- or 80-grade speed as he enters his 30s isn’t going to happen.
The Brewers have a full outfield, with Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick and Blake Perkins all vying for time. Christian Yelich will likely see at least some time in left field, but he’ll increasingly be deployed at designated hitter as his injury history continues to grow. (Yelich’s 2024 season ended in August due to back surgery.) Margot’s right-handed bat could complement lefties Mitchell and Frelick, but Chourio hits right-handed and the switch-hitting Perkins is a better hitter from the right side of the plate.
Margot will give the club some depth in the event of an injury, but he’s not a lock to make the club. He’s also an Article XX(b) free agent (i.e. six-plus years of service, ended the prior season on a major league roster/injured list), meaning he’ll have three uniform opt-out dates in his minor league contract: five days before Opening Day (March 22), May 1 and June 1. He can opt out and elect to become a free agent at any of those points if he’s not on Milwaukee’s 40-man roster.
I have no idea what he is going to do in Milwaukee, but he would have made sense for the Cardinals on a minor league deal.
He is going to get AB’s in exhibition games and hope either someone gets injured/underperforms or he hits well enough that someone else signs him when he gets cut
Seems like a perfect Brewers type signing. He will prob go there and somehow be good again.
“and somehow be good again.”
Uh, no.
Uh, he’s been very good, more than he’s been bad. And still not old. Decent glove man, too. A bit strange for the Brew Crew but he’s got more in the tank, rather than being in the tank.
I won’t waste your time reciting his recent stats and trends. They’re here if you want…
baseball-reference.com/players/m/margoma01.shtml
Thanks for highlighting his injury related stats. I read about that in the article already. I think he’s still a capable player. he’ll stick somewhere if not in MIL, assuming he remains injury free..
wishing you and Manny all the best
Great depth signing, more to come with bargain bin brewers right as spring training starts!
Well, he is cheap and cannot hit so fits the milwaukee model perfectly
Wow you must be a worthless cubs fan with that statement
Not a bad bench piece for them.
I’m not so sure about even that. He set the all time record for futility as a pinch hitter in 2024 – 0 for 30.
Not that the Mariners noticed, but he’s one of a very few batters who rakes at T-Mobile Park. Look it up.
Does he mow and do hedges too? Asking for a friend.
Bad bat, bad glove. Glad he’s out of Minnesota.
Stand down Margot stand down please. Stand down Margot
Dodgers Legend
“Unsurprisingly” has to start the sentence, not come in the middle between commas. As in: “Unsurprisingly, Steve Adams demonstrates yet again he doesn’t know how to use commas.”