The Boston Red Sox will have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, as they look to go from a .500 club to a World Series contender.
With that, Boston has a few contributors set to hit free agency this offseason, including outfielder Tyler O'Neill, who the Red Sox traded for last offseason.
Through the injuries and time missed, O'Neill has hit .254 with an .884 OPS, 30 home runs, 59 RBIs and four stolen bases in 104 games for Boston thus far. This is statistically the second-best year of his career behind his 2021 season with the St. Louis Cardinals when he hit .286 with a .912 OPS, 34 home runs, 80 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 138 games.
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Considering the Red Sox outfield depth at the moment, which could include Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Roman Anthony at the start of 2025, it seems unlikely that Boston would bring O'Neill back unless one or more of the group was traded for pitching help.
Where could O'Neill find himself playing next year?
In a recent post for Bleacher Report, Joel Rueter projected the Opening Day lineups for every team in baseball in 2025, and he has O'Neill landing with the Kansas City Royals.
Kansas City is already a Wild Card team this year and adding O'Neill's power to that lineup could make them even more dangerous in the future.
Boston has been churning through outfielders on one-year deals for a while now, so it's not too surprising. They had Hunter Renfroe in 2021, Tommy Pham for a stint in 2022 and Adam Duvall in 2023. O'Neill would just be the latest and the bridge to potential consistency starting in 2025.
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