One of many first massive strikes Craig Breslow made final offseason as Boston Purple Sox chief baseball officer was buying and selling for Tyler O’Neill.
Breslow now has one other choice to make with regards to the veteran outfielder.
O’Neill is ticketed free of charge company after a a strong first season with the Purple Sox through which he batted .241 with 31 dwelling runs and 61 RBIs. That in all probability will earn O’Neill a good-size pay elevate wherever he finally ends up after he earned $5.9 million this previous season. O’Neill did say there’s “mutual curiosity” in returning to the Purple Sox, who want an influence right-handed bat of their lineup.
Breslow additionally supplied perception into the early contract talks he had with O’Neill when he just lately appeared on NESN’s “310 To Left” podcast.
“It was an important dialog,” Breslow mentioned. “He was appreciative and grateful of the chance right here, the expertise right here. He spoke relatively glowingly in regards to the medical workers and the help workers, which was nice. We need to help our gamers as a lot as we are able to, as holistically as we are able to. And so getting that suggestions from somebody who had frolicked elsewhere was actually a constructive reinforcement of what we’re making an attempt to do.
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“And from my finish, like I mentioned, I’m not hiding from the truth that guys who hit 30 dwelling runs and are right-handed, they’ve a spot at Fenway Park. Now we acquired to have conversations round whether or not or not there’s overlap by way of what he’s in search of, what we’re in search of and people conversations I’m positive will happen within the coming months.”
The Purple Sox have to love the facility O’Neill can inject into the lineup, however that doesn’t erase the issues the 29-year-old carries with him. O’Neill handled accidents his whole profession and performed in over 100 video games this previous season for simply the second time in his profession. He overcame three stints on the injured checklist to take action.
O’Neill could be streaky at occasions within the batter’s field, too. Typically he can appear to be the perfect hitter within the league and different occasions he goes via extended slumps. He endured a brutal offensive stretch to the tip season by hitting simply .087 (4-for-46) over the workforce’s remaining 14 video games.
Whether or not O’Neill comes again to the Purple Sox would possibly depend upon in the event that they assume they’ve room for him. There’s a logjam within the outfield with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu trying to maintain down beginning spots whereas baseball’s No. 1 prospect in Roman Anthony is on the precipice of creating it to the majors.
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And with O’Neill more likely to get curiosity from different groups, Breslow might want to discover a resolution to make all of the items matches if he doesn’t need O’Neill to be one-and-done with Boston.
