The Boston Red Sox have just over 20 games remaining in their 2024 regular season, and they sit over five games back of the final wild-card spot in the American League.
So, at this point in the season, the Red Sox should be thinking about their future beyond 2024, including what they want the roster to look like next year.
A few members of this year’s team will hit the market this offseason, but Boston will have to choose who they want to return.
One Red Sox who is set to become a free agent is outfielder Tyler O’Neill, who has been a solid contributor to the squad. In 95 games, he’s hit .255 with an .862 OPS, 25 home runs, 50 RBIs and four stolen bases despite missing significant time with injuries.
So what could happen this offseason?
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter believes Boston will move on from O’Neill after just one season.
Here’s what Reuter wrote about O’Neill’s free agency:
“The 29-year-old has only played over 100 games in a season once in his career while dealing with a wide variety of injuries, and in a market that is thin on impact bats, he should have no problem at least matching the five-year, $ 75 million deal that Andrew Benintendi got a few years ago.”
The Red Sox have more outfielders than spots in the outfield with Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Roman Anthony potentially roaming out there.
There’s just simply not a spot for O’Neill, especially not at that price, and they’ll honestly probably have to trade one of the previously mentioned four.
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