Red Sox trade for least desirable Cardinals asset to replace Alex Verdugo
Red Sox complete trade for an outfielder after sending Alex Verdugo to the Yankees
While the baseball world sits on the edge of their seat waiting for impending news on Shohei Ohtani the Boston Red Sox completed a trade early Friday night which cleared up much of their issues in the outfield.
According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Red Sox have completed a trade for two-time Gold Glove winner Tyler O'Neill, a move that stabilizes the picture of their outfield heading into 2024 after they traded Alex Verdugo to the Yankees earlier this week.
In the deal, the Red Sox sent two minor league pitchers to the Cardinals in Nick Robertson and Victor Santos. The most notable of the two pieces Boston is sending to St. Louis of which being Robertson who was one of two players the Red Sox received from the Dodgers for Kikè Hernandez at the trade deadline this year.
Red Sox add Tyler O'Neill in trade with Cardinals while everyone was on Ohtani Watch
The trade does not come as a surprise. During the Winter Meetings, Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak mentioned that the team would be fielding offers on their outfielders and specifically O'Neill with a deal ultimately coming to fruition just a few days later.
During his six seasons in St Louis, O'Neill has struggled to stay on the field consistently playing over 100 games only one time in his career and being placed on the injured list on 12 separate occasions.
In his Cardinals career, O'Neill posted a slash line of .248/.318/.458 over 477 games, with an OPS of .776 and a 112 OPS+. Despite occasional inconsistency, many in the baseball community are fans of his, thanks to the robust underlying numbers he has demonstrated throughout his career. In his last qualified season, he ranked in the 80th percentile in barrel percentage and sweet spot percentage, according to Baseball Savant.
While it is only the first addition to the major league team Breslow has made the trade provides a good start for the Red Sox as they look to improve their roster for 2024.
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