Craig Breslow Describes Early Talks With Red Sox Free Agent Tyler O’Neill

One of the first big moves Craig Breslow made last offseason as Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer was trading for Tyler O’Neill.

Breslow now has another decision to make when it comes to the veteran outfielder.

O’Neill is ticketed for free agency after a solid first season with the Red Sox in which he batted .241 with 31 home runs and 61 RBIs. That in all likelihood will earn O’Neill a good-size pay raise wherever he ends up after he earned $5.9 million this past season. O’Neill did say there’s “mutual interest” in returning to the Red Sox, who need a power right-handed bat in their lineup.

Breslow also offered insight into the early contract talks he had with O’Neill when he recently appeared on NESN’s “310 To Left” podcast.

“It was a great conversation,” Breslow said. “He was appreciative and grateful of the opportunity here, the experience here. He spoke rather glowingly about the medical staff and the support staff, which was great. We want to support our players as much as we can, as holistically as we can. And so getting that feedback from someone who had spent time elsewhere was certainly a positive reinforcement of what we’re trying to do.

“And from my end, like I said, I’m not hiding from the fact that guys who hit 30 home runs and are right-handed, they have a place at Fenway Park. Now we got to have conversations around whether or not there’s overlap in terms of what he’s looking for, what we’re looking for and those conversations I’m sure will take place in the coming months.”

The Red Sox have to like the power O’Neill can inject into the lineup, but that doesn’t erase the concerns the 29-year-old carries with him. O’Neill dealt with injuries his entire career and played in over 100 games this past season for just the second time in his career. He overcame three stints on the injured list to do so.

O’Neill can be streaky at times in the batter’s box, too. Sometimes he can look like the best hitter in the league and other times he goes through prolonged slumps. He endured a brutal offensive stretch to the end season by hitting just .087 (4-for-46) over the team’s final 14 games.

Whether O’Neill comes back to the Red Sox might depend on whether they think they have room for him. There’s a logjam in the outfield with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu looking to hold down starting spots while baseball’s No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony is on the precipice of making it to the majors.

And with O’Neill likely to get interest from other teams, Breslow will need to find a solution to make all the pieces fit if he doesn’t want O’Neill to be one-and-done with Boston.