The driving force behind the current successful era of Philadelphia Phillies baseball has been one thing: money. The club hardly ever successfully develops homegrown players and can’t draft worth a darn. Their one area of expertise is showering talented players in cash, and they’ve done a lot of that in recent years. Considering the sorry state of the team’s outfield this year, they could put that financial muscle to use once more to buy low on Tyler O’Neill.
O’Neill spent his first six big league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he posted a solid .248/.318/.458 slash line and earned two Gold Glove awards in left field. The musclebound Canadian was flipped to the Boston Red Sox ahead of the 2024 season, and he went on to slash a fantastic .241/.336/.511 over 473 plate appearances in Beantown. That terrific showing earned him a three-year, $49.5 million deal from the Baltimore Orioles the following offseason.
Unfortunately, things have completely unraveled since then, as O’Neill has lived up to his injury prone reputation by appearing in just 101 contests over his first two seasons in Baltimore. Between trips to the injured list his production has fallen off a cliff, as he’s worked to a paltry .627 OPS in that time with just 11 home runs. This season has been even more grisly, with just a .547 mark over 47 games.
The Orioles find themselves with a pretty crowded outfield picture, with Taylor Ward, Leody Taveras, Colton Cowser and O’Neill getting regular playing time. On top of those four, they have talented 24-year-old Dylan Beavers on the shelf currently with an oblique injury. When he heals up, that will make five outfielders for three spots.
Tyler O’Neill could help clear up a murky Phillies outfield
Unlike the Orioles, the Phillies have hardly any outfield depth to speak of. Brandon Marsh is likely headed to his first All-Star game, but rookie Justin Crawford has looked lost in center field, while right field is currently manned by prospect Gabriel Rincones Jr. after free agent flop Adolis GarcÃa went down with a season-ending arm injury. There aren’t any reinforcements coming from the minor leagues, and quality trade options like Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Jarren Duran will likely be the subjects of bidding wars this summer.
Those complications could force Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to get creative when looking for ways to shore up the outfield, and that’s where his team’s deep pockets can give him a crucial advantage. The Orioles would be thrilled to free up their logjam while offloading some of the roughly $25 million still owed to O’Neill over the next season-and-a-half. Coincidentally, the Phillies are no strangers to wasting money on veteran players (Nick Castellanos, Aaron Nola, Trea Turner, Taijuan Walker, etc).
The Phillies don’t need to absorb the whole price tag, but taking on around half of O’Neill’s albatross would still be doing the O’s a huge favor. The prospect cost in such an exchange would be negligible, and the Phils would be taking a flier on a guy who at his peak can provide 30-homer power and spectacular outfield defense; two things the Phillies have in short supply.
There’s no guarantee that Tyler O’Neill can return to the peak of his powers, but he wouldn’t need to come all the way back to be a huge boon to the Phillies. Simply supplying the occasional longball and solid defense would be enough to stabilize a trouble spot that has haunted the team for years. Money should be no object to the Phillies, and if that’s true, Tyler O’Neill is a gamble well worth taking.
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