The Red Sox The Red Sox have had a better start to the season than expected, with great pitching but weak offense due to several players being on the DL, including Triston Casas and Rafael Devers. Trevor Story, with Rafael Devers because of injury.
Tyler O’Neill, the team’s best hitter in the opening month, has also been injured but is now returning from a concussion. If the Red Sox continue to struggle due to injuries and weak hitting, O'Neill could be traded away during the summer trade deadline.
Ideally, the Red Sox would want to keep winning and keep O’Neill, but they have a crowded outfield with young talent, so O’Neill might be expendable, despite his .308/.442/.716 slash line and seven home runs in 16 games.
That’s the prediction from Bleacher Report, which suggests that the Red Sox will trade O’Neill to the Phillies in July.
Red Sox Outfield Picture Remains Crowded
In a piece titled, “7 Early Predictions for the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline,” analyst Tim Kelly predicts that the Red Sox will send O’Neill to the Phillies. Kelly does consider the possibility of O’Neill staying with the Red Sox long-term, but the team is committed to Ceddanne Rafael in center field and also has young corner outfielders Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu. With Rob Refsnyder back (and hitting .438 in five games), outfield is one spot the Red Sox have some decent depth.Kelly writes: “O’Neill does have an injury history, and on what projects to be a relatively weak trade market, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow would probably be best served to get a return while he can for the veteran outfielder via trade. The Phillies are a sensible landing spot for O’Neill, according to Kelly, because they need more right-handed hitting in their lineup.Tyler O’Neill Already a Win for Boston
Whether they keep O’Neill or trade him, the Red Sox have already benefitted greatly from the trade that brought him to Boston.
Boston traded pitching prospect Victor Santos and veteran Nick Robertson to St. Louis for O’Neill in December 2023, and Santos and Robertson are struggling in Triple-A Memphis.
O’Neill had a standout year in 2021 with 34 home runs and a Gold Glove win, but he struggled with injuries in the past two seasons in St. Louis.
But everything has kept going well for O’Neill, as long as he can stay on the field. Talking about O’Neill during his early home-run streak, manager Alex Cora thought the team could almost guarantee an O’Neill home run every night.
“This is insane,”
Cora said, according to MassLive
. “We should announce him before every game: ‘Now starting in right field for the Boston Red Sox, Tyler O’Neill and he’ll hit a home run.’”
The Red Sox have done well in the Tyler O’Neill trade, but might still consider trading him — possibly to the Phillies, according to Bleacher Report.
“This is crazy,” Cora said, per MassLive. “We should introduce him every game on the line: ‘Now playing right field for the Boston Red Sox, Tyler O’Neill and he’ll hit a homer.’”
