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Seattle Mariners: 3 Young Outfield Trade Targets

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 07: Phillip Ervin #27 of the Cincinnati Reds during the game against the New York Mets at Citi Field on August 7, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 07: Phillip Ervin #27 of the Cincinnati Reds during the game against the New York Mets at Citi Field on August 7, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
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ST LOUIS, MO – JULY 15: Tyler O’Neill #41 of the St. Louis Cardinals drives in a run due to a fielding error by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning at Busch Stadium on July 15, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO – JULY 15: Tyler O’Neill #41 of the St. Louis Cardinals drives in a run due to a fielding error by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning at Busch Stadium on July 15, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

TYLER O’NEILL, OF, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Some two-plus years later and it’s safe to say the Mariners came out on the right end of their swap of Tyler O’Neill for Marco Gonzales. Unfortunately for St. Louis, O’Neill hasn’t been the offensive powerhouse they had hoped for while Gonzales has blossomed into a stud of a starting pitcher atop the Mariners’ rotation.

We’ve talked about a potential reunion between Seattle and O’Neill before and how that made sense for the Mariners at the time, and it still makes sense for them even if they’re mildly unsuccessful in breaking up some of their outfield this offseason. To me, O’Neill would be the ideal replacement for Domingo Santana. O’Neill, like Santana, will strike out a ton while boasting 40-dinger potential; however, he’s a significantly better defender than Santana, which isn’t an incredibly hard feat to be fair, though O’Neill’s glove is nothing to scoff at.

The Cardinals have expressed interest in dealing O’Neill in the past, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him head elsewhere over the coming months. Given his struggles at the plate in his career thus far and the fact that he’s now officially out of minor league options, the Cardinals shouldn’t expect much in return for O’Neill straight up. It’s a really solid buy-low opportunity that would be fantastic to see the Mariners take advantage of.

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