Some players need a change of scenery. Tyler O’Neill may just be one of those players and could help the Cardinals nab some high-level prospects.
After an offseason filled with optimism, Cardinals outfielder O’Neill has had a frustrating start to his season.
O’Neill completely changed his offseason program, focusing more on staying healthy while implementing more plyometrics to generate speed. Leading up to him playing for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic, he changed positions to center field. O’Neill won two Gold Gloves while playing left field. The team believed the position change wouldn’t be drastic.
Once the regular season began, O’Neill got off to a slow start. There was even an incident where O’Neill was called out by manager Oli Marmol over a perceived lack of hustle while rounding third base while it was raining. O’Neill took exception to being called out publicly as he’s always been one to hustle. He believed the issue should have been handled man-to-man outside the eye of the media. Marmol doubled down on the criticism with John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations, agreeing with his manager that O’Neill needed to step up.
O’Neill did try to hustle, but that didn’t allow him to miss out on the one thing he hoped to do this season, get injured. O’Neill has been relegated to the 60-day injured list with lower back issues.
This week, O’Neill has improved as he is on a rehabilitation stint with AAA Memphis. It will be interesting to see if he can return to the Cardinals after the All-Star break.
After the range of issues he’s been through to start the season, it’s believed O’Neill is on the hot seat for a possible trade. Which players should the Cardinals target to make a deal to bolster their roster for the future?