A busy first couple of months on the job for Boston Red Sox general manager Craig Breslow involved another trade Friday when the Red Sox landed left fielder Tyler O’Neill from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for RHP Nick Robertson and minor-league RHP Victor Santos.
Red Sox officially announce they acquired OF Tyler O’Neill from the St. Louis Cardinals, in exchange for RHP Nick Robertson and minor league RHP Victor Santos.
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) December 8, 2023
O’Neill, 28, slashed .231/.312/.403 with nine home runs and five stolen bases in 71 games last year. The two-time Gold Glove winner’s best season came in 2021, when he slashed .286/.352/.560 with 34 home runs and 15 stolen bases, finishing in eighth place in the National League MVP Award race.
The deal comes less than a week after Boston dealt outfielder Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees for three right-handed relievers.
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Robertson, 25, appeared in nine games for Boston last season, posting a 6.00 ERA in 12 innings. He made his debut in 2023 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and was sent to Boston in the deal that brought Kiké Hernández back to Los Angeles. Santos, 22, has been in the Red Sox system since 2021 and reached as high as Triple-A Worcester in 2022. He missed the entire 2023 season due to injury.
Why the Cardinals traded O’Neill
Eager to alleviate a positional outfield logjam that ultimately plagued the active roster, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak was clear about his intentions to trade O’Neill, who is entering his final season before free agency and was due to make an estimated $5.5 million in arbitration, per MLB Trade Rumors.
“Getting him everyday at-bats is going to be really difficult given the way our outfield, we predict, will line up,” Mozeliak told St. Louis-based reporters Monday at MLB’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tenn. “So when you’re looking at exploring the trade market … and when you think about what’s best for everybody in the end, it probably makes sense if we’re going to do something.
“(O’Neill) sees himself as an everyday player, and candidly we do too, but when you look at who else we have, it’s going to be tough to find those at-bats.”
Mozeliak described the Cardinals projected starting outfield next year to be Lars Nootbaar in left field, Tommy Edman in center field and Jordan Walker in right field, with Dylan Carlson slated to be the reserve. That left O’Neill out of the mix. With St. Louis focusing on bullpen upgrades, the plan was to target relief pitching in return.
“Obviously we felt like we addressed a lot of our starting pitching needs prior to getting down (to Nashville),” Mozeliak said. “But we’re still looking at ways we can possibly improve the club. There’s no secret we want to try to move one of the outfielders to try to address some of that.” — Katie Woo, Cardinals staff writer
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What Boston is getting in O’Neill
Three days after trading Verdugo to the Yankees, the Red Sox added another veteran outfielder in O’Neill.
O’Neill is a right-handed hitting outfielder, who’s battled injuries the last few seasons, but figures to balance out a lefty-heavy lineup for the Red Sox. When healthy he can hit for power with 34 home runs in 2021 despite just 23 the last two years combined. O’Neill hit .231 with a .715 OPS in 72 games last year and played 96 games in 2022 following his best year in 2021 when he logged 138 games hitting .286 with a .915 OPS.
Team sources indicated he’ll likely play all three outfield positions. Sharing time in left with Masataka Yoshida while the Red Sox have Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela as options in center and Wilyer Abreu likely taking over right field. Fourth outfielder Rob Refnsyder also remains on the roster.
Like Verdugo, O’Neill is entering his final year of arbitration and in acquiring him it leaves the door open for the Red Sox to give Rafaela more playing time in 2025 and beyond, while outfielder Roman Anthony, one of the team’s top prospects, is likely to be nearing a 2025 debut.
Verdugo had been projected to make $9 million in arbitration, so O’Neill’s projected $5.5 million salary also saves the Red Sox $3.5 million to put toward another piece of the roster.
While O’Neill has battled injuries, the Red Sox did not have to part with key pieces of their big league roster. Robertson was one of two pitchers the Red Sox acquired from the Dodgers in the Kiké Hernandez trade last summer. With a crowded bullpen, his role was in question as a middle-innings reliever. Santos, 23, missed the entire 2023 season due to a right elbow injury after receiving an invitation to big league camp. In 101 career minor league appearances, the right-hander posted a 3.72 ERA. He was not among the organization’s top 60 prospects per SoxProspects.com. — Jen McCaffrey, Red Sox staff writer
Required reading
- Red Sox’s Craig Breslow makes first significant move, trades Alex Verdugo for 3 pitchers
- No moves on horizon as Cardinals wrap up slow Winter Meetings
(Photo: Jeff Robinson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)