Inside The Dodgers

What the Tyler Glasnow, Manuel Margot Trade Means For The Dodgers

In-depth analysis of the Dodgers' trade for Tyler Glasnow and Manuel Margot.

Jason Fray

What the Tyler Glasnow, Manuel Margot Trade Means For The Dodgers
What the Tyler Glasnow, Manuel Margot Trade Means For The Dodgers /
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Andrew Friedman is a busy man.

At 3:00 p.m. PT on Thursday, he was on stage at Chavez Ravine -- helping to usher in Shohei Ohtani to the Dodgers' franchise. For roughly the next hour, he gave a speech, took pictures, spoke to the media, and witnessed the spectacle that was the Ohtani introduction. 

After signing arguably the most talented player in the history of the sport, no one would've begrudged Friedman for taking the rest of the night off. Perhaps chewing on a Cohiba cigar with a cocktail in one hand. 

Less than two hours later, Jeff Passan dropped a report that had been speculated about for the last two days: 

According to Passan, starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Manuel Margot were traded to the Dodgers in exchange for pitcher Ryan Pepiot and outfielder Jonny DeLuca. 

The Rays got off of sizable financial commitments to both players. Roughly $35 million came off the books with this deal. Pepiot gives Tampa Bay a promising arm under club control for multiple years. DeLuca completely has the look of a player who could thrive for the Rays. He's a plus-defender with elite speed and the ability to mash left-handed pitching. 

With all of that said, the noteworthy prize in this deal is Glasnow. The Dodgers are clearly in win-now mode to maximize the respective primes of Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. 

Let us break down how both Margot and Glasnow figure into things in 2024 for the Dodgers. 

Manuel Margot's Potential Impact on the Dodgers

While many wearing Dodger blue were hoping for Randy Arozarena, the price tag likely was a bit too much for LA's liking.

Margot is an interesting pivot. The 29-year-old is one of the league's most versatile outfielders. He can play, and has played all three outfield spots. This aspect surely is something the Dodgers enjoy considering with how matchup-dependent the ballclub can be. 

Defensively, Margot sports a career .988 fielding percentage. He's committed only 19 errors in eight seasons. When further factoring in his range along with runs saved, it's safe to categorize Margot as -- at the very worst -- an above-average defender. 

When a lefty is on the mound, you can envision Margot spelling Jason Heyward in right field. Depending on whether Chris Taylor is the everyday LF or not, Margot could very well be a late-game defensive replacement more often than not. Margot can even spell James Outman in centerfield 

Offensively, there's not a lot of pop in his bat. Margot has never hit more than 13 HRs in a single season. Over the last two years, he's combined to club eight HRs. He's also a career .255 hitter with a career. OPS of .694. Margot has played in the playoffs on four separate occasions. Collectively, he's accrued a .241 BA in postseason play.  

Margot is what he is: Essentially a fourth outfielder with the ability to start if need be. We'll be curious to see whether he becomes an everyday starter. If Chris Taylor becomes the de facto utility man in the infield, we could envision a scenario where the Dodgers will still target an everyday LF (perhaps Teoscar Hernandez). 

If Kiké Hernandez is re-signed for the infield role, a Taylor/Margot/Heyward could platoon both the LF and RF spots. Margot is making $10 million this year -- with a mutual option for $12 million in 2025.

Tyler Glasnow's Impact on the Dodgers

Glasnow is undoubtedly the headliner in this deal. There are several narratives surrounding him as a player. There's seemingly a polarizing glass half-full/glass half-empty mindset when it comes to Glasnow. Let's get the negative angle out of the way right away. 

The 6-foot-8 power pitcher is not the most durable player in the world. He's never pitched more than 120.innings in a single season. Glasnow set that mark this past year. He's also not won more than 10 games in any season (again, another mark set in 2023). 

Along with the history of injuries comes the lack of success in postseason play. Glasnow has a 2-6 record in the playoffs with a less-than-sparkling 5.72 ERA. When further factoring in Glasnow being glacially slow to the plate, teams can run on him with decent success. 

Now, the description above doesn't paint him in the most positive light. If you had never seen Glasnow pitch, you'd be wondering why he'd be the proverbial crown jewel in any deal. 

With all of that said, let us transition over to the glass half-full side of things. 

Simply put, Glasnow has nasty stuff. Based on a gigantic frame, it's quite difficult to pick up on his pitches as they hurdle downwards at such an unusual angle. 

Glasnow is a power arm with a fastball touching 96-99 MPH regularly. His secondary pitches -- both a slider and a curve -- are above-average pitches. 

According to Baseball Savant, Glasnow ranks in the 99th percentile in extension, the 97th percentile in strikeout percentage, the 95th percentile in whiff percentage, the 90th percentile in average exit velocity, and the 88th percentile in fastball velocity. 

In other words, Glasnow strikes out a ton of guys and doesn't allow a ton of hard-hit balls. This profile should fit perfectly in one of the league's best ballparks for pitchers.  

Concerning the NL West, Glasnow is coming from a much more difficult division. The AL East widely is considered to be the deepest and most talented division in all of baseball. Glasnow now gets to come to the National League where he's virtually an unknown (aside from a brief stint in Pittsburgh five years ago). 

Though this isn't necessarily a quantifiable fact relating to future performance, Glasnow is also from Valencia -- a suburb of Los Angeles. Being able to come back home to pitch in front of family and friends can't be the worst thing in the world. 

Why The Dodgers Had to Make the Glasnow Trade

The Dodgers were able to acquire a pitcher with ace-level stuff. This element alone makes the trade worth doing. 

It probably wasn't easy giving up Pepiot. However, there's enough depth in the farm system to weather the loss. Additionally, Glasnow already signed a five-year extension, locking him in with Los Angeles for the rest of the prime of his career.

Injuries aside, the Dodgers hope to have Glasnow ready to go for the postseason. This will be the biggest barometer as to whether this deal was successful or not. 

More than anything, this move signals to both the fan base and Ohtani that the Dodgers are serious about winning at the highest level. A healthy duo of Glasnow and Walker Buehler is very elite. 

If you were to throw a Yoshinobu Yamamoto on top of that, you'd be looking at a top three any other team would be envious of. There's also still the possibility of Clayton Kershaw coming back into the fold to join this group (which also includes two young flamethrowers in Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan). 

With much of the offseason left to go, LA at the very least secured the type of pitching talent that should give it a chance to compete at the highest level. 

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Jason Fray
JASON FRAY

Jason Fray is a proud native of Los Angeles. After graduating from UCLA in 2011, he's written for a number of publications -- including Bleacher Report, FOX Sports, Saturday Down South, and New Arena. In his downtime, he enjoys writing scripts, going to shows, weekly pub trivia with the boys, trying the best hole-in-the-wall food spots around town, and traveling (22 countries & counting). 

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