{"id":280279,"date":"2024-02-29T08:33:40","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T14:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=280279"},"modified":"2024-02-29T08:33:40","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T14:33:40","slug":"set-to-play-key-role-margot-makes-it-to-twins-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=280279","title":{"rendered":"Set To Play Key Role, Margot Makes It To Twins Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fort Myers, Fla. — Needless to say,\u00a0Manuel Margot<\/a>\u00a0describes it as a \u201ccrazy day\u201d when he was traded for the second time in three months. The Dodgers were playing a road Spring Training game on Monday, so Margot had to hurriedly drive the 45 minutes to his house, stuff everything in a suitcase and drive to the airport, because his agent had gotten him a same-day flight to Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Per the CBA, he had 72 hours to report to his new team — but no more than 17 hours after the trade was made official, Margot was already in his new clubhouse early Tuesday morning, having driven down from Tampa at the crack of dawn, asking if the Twins needed him to play that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen someone make the Phoenix to Fort Myers trip that quick,\u201d manager Rocco Baldelli said. \u201cNever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHim being able to show up today should tell you his character,\u201d Byron Buxton said later that day. \u201cGot traded yesterday and being on the plane and getting here, he actually asked [if he] was playing today. That\u2019s something you don\u2019t see very often, and just shows you the person he is and the character he has to make us better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For as quickly as Margot did arrive when the time came, the Twins waited until after Spring Training games had started to make this long-anticipated move to add a right-handed hitter to their outfield mix — and in doing so, they found a fit that will both help balance their lineup against left-handed pitching and give them insurance in center field for Buxton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a reactionary move to any developments involving Buxton by any means — a healthy Buxton appeared in center field on Tuesday and was in great spirits following the game — but given his history, it\u2019s clearly sensible to have an everyday-capable backup option ready to step in if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Margot also fits in as a right-handed complement to the Twins\u2019 left-handed-hitting corner outfielders Matt Wallner and Max Kepler, likely Wallner in particular. Margot played a plurality of his games in right field for the Rays, but the current outfield construction could mean he\u2019ll have to spend more time in left field for the Twins, and he could see more time there this spring as a result as he prepares to play all three positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust keep working,\u201d Margot said through interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. \u201cYou have to adapt to the role that the team wants you to do. Just keep working and be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019ll have to be ready to be first up if needed in center field — where he has been an\u00a0elite defender in the past<\/a>\u00a0— since the player in his role last season, Michael A. Taylor, had to play 126 games in center in Buxton\u2019s stead. Names like Taylor, Tommy Pham and Adam Duvall had been mentioned as possible fits on the free-agent market, but Margot also gives the Twins an experienced glove who can more than hold his own defensively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fort Myers, Fla. — Needless to say,\u00a0Manuel Margot\u00a0describes it as a \u201ccrazy day\u201d when he was traded for the second time in three months. The Dodgers were playing a road Spring Training game on Monday, so Margot had to hurriedly drive the 45 minutes to his house, stuff everything in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":280179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280280,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280279\/revisions\/280280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/280179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}