3 trade fits for Tyler O'Neill

The trade deadline is within 10 days, and the St.Louis Cardinals will be ready to make many moves. The biggest name discussed is the future of Tyler ‘O Neill. From tensions rising with the organization to constant stints on the IL, to being catered to for opportunities that continue to fail his time is up in St. Louis. 

Given all the baggage are there any trade fits for Tyler’O Neill? Who would want an injury-prone outfielder who cannot produce on the field when healthy?

One possible destination for Dylan Carslon is New York, per MLB.com. That means it almost seems possible that O’Neill will finish the season out with the Cardinals. Oli Marmol seems to think this idea with his recent comments on how he will play the outfield going forward.

But if the Cardinals can trade him, who will want him? John Mozeliak is adamant that he needs to upgrade pitching, which usually takes value offered to obtain good pitching. With a very depleted asset in O’Neill this seems like a far stretch. So here are the 3 teams that might be desperate enough to make this kind of move.

Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians have needed offensive production from their outfield for a while now. They continue to pump out arms from their pitching farm, and it very well might be time to part ways with some. Shane Bieber has been linked to the Cardinals for a while now and is currently recovering from an elbow strain, so a package starting with these two could be a start. Triston McKenzie, Tanner Bibee, and Logan Allen are all upcoming arms for the next wave of dominant Guardians pitching and are under control for several years. It will be hard for the Guardians to move these players and will cost a hefty price. But you never know how desperate the Guardians might be to fix their outfield.

Seattle Mariners

Jon Paul Morosi made some noise when he tweeted he had heard of discussions between the Cardinals and the Mariners for a trade several weeks ago. The Cardinals have many arms to target from Seattle and can offer several proposals and hopefully one lands. Seatle is very familiar with O’Neill as they were the team to draft him. At the time, the Marco Gonzales/Tyler O’Neill trade seemed like a win for both sides and now looks like the burning candle is going out. Could a move back to SEA rejuvenate O’Neill? If it does, at least obtain an MLB-ready starter to make the pain hurt less.

Houston Astros

Houston will be very active at the deadline so they can catch their rivals, the Texas Rangers, to win the AL West. The AL Wild Card is looking like a potential bloodbath and will be hard to secure a spot. So the Astros best shot is to win the division. They have been public in addressing a need for a left handed bat to fill the void left by Yordan Alvarez’ injury. But they have been linked to discussions with the White Sox for Luis Robert.

So maybe they are looking for an improvement in the outfield who can display peak athleticism. Not many athletes in MLB are more athletic than Tyler O’Neill, and he would play well in Minute Maid’s outfield. Will the Astros want to take a gamble on his health or his lack of consistency at the plate? 2021 MVP level Tyler O’Neill is the goal to achieve, and the exceptional development staff in HOU might be able to rediscover it. But in return, the Cardinals will want one of their young promising arms. A gamble for a gamble maybe? Forrest Whitley is still hanging around….