Red Sox Slugger's Home Run Tear Creating Tough Free Agency Decision For Boston

Will this power bat be back in the lineup at Fenway next season?

Sep 11, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox left fielder Tyler O'Neill (17) his a three run home run to win the game against the Baltimore Orioles in ten innings at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images

On Wednesday night at Fenway Park, Tyler O'Neill delivered the swing it seemed like the Boston Red Sox spent the entire second half of the season waiting for.

On a 1-0 slider from Baltimore Orioles reliever Keegan Akin, O'Neill cleared his hips and launched a missile onto Lansdowne Street, giving the Red Sox a crucial series win with a three-run walk-off home run.

It was O'Neill's 30th home run of the season in just 101 games. It kept the Red Sox above .500 at 74-72, and it kept them within four games of the Minnesota Twins for an American League Wild Card spot. But it also helped make things more complicated for Boston in the long haul.

O'Neill has been on a home run binge of late, hitting five in the Red Sox's last five games. When he gets hot like this, he can carry a team offensively. Soon, the Red Sox will have to decide if what he brings to the table is worth having around again next season.

As he becomes a free agent, the Red Sox have a few choices with O'Neill. They can earnestly pursue him with a multi-year offer and hope he sticks around. They can let him walk without much of a fight. Or they can tender him a one-year qualifying offer, which is the most complicated option of the three.

The qualifying offer for the 2025 season will pay players just north of $21 million, and there's a case to be made that O'Neill should take it. He's only 29 and will finish as roughly a three-WAR player this season, but he's got a lengthy injury history at this point, and his athleticism is already diminishing.

The Red Sox have an impending logjam in their outfield with Baseball America's new number-one overall prospect Roman Anthony approaching the big leagues. They'd also love to play Ceddanne Rafaela more often in center field, where his Gold Glove potential shines the brightest.

If O'Neill accepts a qualifying offer from the Red Sox, they have to find him a spot in their lineup, which seems like a strangely tough task for a slugger with a 142 OPS+. And it seems as though that will have to be in the outfield, given that Masataka Yoshida is now a full-time designated hitter with three remaining years on his contract.

In some ways, it's a good problem to have. The 2025 Red Sox are mostly about potential, and O'Neill is more of a known quantity. But he's also become almost indispensable at times.

How difficult must it be to let one of the most prolific righty power bats in Major League Baseball walk out the door? Red Sox fans just may find out the answer this winter.

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