STL Cardinals Rumors: Matthew Liberatore plan, Mozeliak contradicting, Tyler O’Neill trade buzz

STL Cardinals Rumors: Tyler O’Neill trade still being explored

When outfielder Tyler O’Neill was benched by Oli Marmol earlier in the season, the potential for the Cardinals, a club rich with young outfield talent, to end up trading away the 27-year-old heated up. That seemed to have died down but, according to one team insider, that’s still a possibility on the table.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was asked by a reader if St. Louis would still consider moving the outfielder and the team insider had this to say:

"“The Cardinals will entertain trading Tyler O’Neill for starting pitching, and that is not related to the shoulder or anything other than the Cardinals have an outfield situation right now that they like and O’Neill is on the IL.”"

As mentioned, O’Neill has been on the IL since May 5 with a lower back strain that has been quite pesky. In fact, his return timetable is still unknown and he’s yet to set a date for a rehab assignment.

With that said, Goold noted that the Cardinals are “wary of another [Randy] Arozerana situation” wherein they trade away a young player, specifically in the outfield, without giving him the proper playing time or opportunities only for him to blossom elsewhere.

Despite that wariness, it does seem that the 27-year-old outfield, hitting just .228 with a .620 OPS prior to his injury this season, could be a fantastic trade chip if the Cards are able to fight back into divisional contention and look to upgrade at the deadline. With Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson, Dylan Carlson, Jordan Walker, and Juan Yepez all in the organization, they have options to turn to without O’Neill.

What they could potentially deal O’Neill for, however, remains to be seen.