ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - In a move that could be seen coming from 10 miles away, the St. Louis Cardinals have moved on from outfielder Tyler O'Neill, trading him to the Boston Red Sox.
In the deal the Cardinals will acquire right handed pitchers Nick Robertson and Victor Santos.
The deal ends O'Neill's time with the Cardinals after two disappointing seasons. Following a breakout 2021 season where the Canadian mashed 34 home runs and collected a Gold Glove, O'Neill has since been unable to replicate anywhere near the success of it, slashing a very mediocre .229/.310/.397 slash line and 23 home runs across a combined 168 games from 2022-2023.
O'Neill also hasn't been the same Gold Glove fielder in that stretch, posting exactly average metrics in advanced defensive stats like Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and Outs Above Average).
Heading into his final year of arbitration where he projected to make $5.5 million, O'Neill will now move on to Boston, where he will likely slot into center field, a position vacated after the team traded away Alex Verdugo to the rival New York Yankees during the Winter Meetings.
The Cardinals have made it look seem the priority this week was to move on from O'Neill after Mozeliak publicly admitted the team was looking to move on from him during an interview at the Winter Meetings. With O'Neill off the picture, the team can now focus on potentially adding to the bullpen, either by trade or free agency, or potentially add a starter through trade.
Robertson spent had short stint in the majors in 2023, spending time with both the Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 22.1 innings, he had a 6.04 ERA, but with a FIP(Fielding Independent Pitching) of 3.88 and a strikeouts per nine of 10.5, Robertson showed in his short 18-game stint he might have the ability to be a useful bullpen piece for the Cardinals.
Santos is just 22 years old, and he reached Triple-A for the first time in 2022. But he missed the entire 2023 season dealing with an injury.
In his last full season, Santos pitched in 27 games, starting in 25 of them and pitched a 4.97 ERA, striking out 126 batters in 145 innings. Santos will likely report to Triple-A Memphis to begin next season and be organizational rotation depth.