The Boston Red Sox are having quite a busy week on the trade market. After sending outfielder Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees and acquiring right-hand pitcher Justin Slaten from the New York Mets, the Red Sox have now also landed outfielder Tyler O’Neill in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.
According to the Red Sox’s announcement on Friday, they are sending RHP Nick Robertson and minor league pitcher Victor Santos to St. Louis in exchange for O’Neill.
O’Neill has two Golden Glove Awards on his resume and has been, at times, a valuable player for the Cardinals. In 2021, he batted .286 with 34 home runs and 80 RBIs while receiving NL Most Valuable Player votes. However, injuries limited his impact in the past couple of seasons while he also had public disagreements with Cardinals’ manager Oli Marmol.
The Red Sox are most likely hoping that O’Neill can re-discover his old form next season when he’ll be healthy and that they can get one good year out of him before he reaches free agency. The 28-year-old player has one year of arbitration left on his deal that will likely pay him around $5 million.
The Cardinals, on the other hand, shore up their pitching staff with Robertson and Santos. Robertson made his debut in MLB this past season, playing 18 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Red Sox, while Santos is recovering from Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss the 2023 campaign.
