AL East Notes: O’Neill, Estrada, Holmes, Rays

On By Littum

At the end of last season, both Tyler O’Neill and Red stockings chief baseball officer Craig Breslow expressed interest in the possibility of O’Neill returning to Boston on a new contract. That option is now officially off the board after O’Neill signed a three-year, $49.5MM deal with the Orioles yesterday, and according to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (Blue sky link), the Sox “were not very aggressive” in their attempts to re-sign the outfielder. Boston’s Pursuit of Juan Soto just took over Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes, since the Red Sox are one of the teams still waiting for Soto to make his decision, the Sox have not made O’Neill an offer.

More from around the AL East…

  • Speaking of the O’Neill signing, the move likely closes the door on the possibility of Randal Grichuk lands in Baltimore, as MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (X link) writes that Orioles had an interest in Grichuk’s services. Grichuk would have been more of a clear platoon player, but like O’Neill, he’s a right-handed bat that crushes left-handed pitching. This skill set was on full display with the Diamondbacks in 2024, as Grichuk hit .319/.386/.528 in 184 PA against southpaws. Grichuk turned down a $6MM mutual option for 2025 to enter free agency and figures to score a solid contract based on his lefty-mashing offense and his ability to at least passably play all three outfield positions.
  • The Blue Jays was interested in Clay Holmes before Holmes signed with the Mets earlier this week, according to Athletics Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon. Toronto looked at Holmes just as a reliever, which isn’t surprising given how fixing the bullpen is one of the Jays’ top offseason priorities. Holmes hasn’t started a game since his rookie year in 2018, but he will move back into a starting role with the Mets on his new three-year, $38MM contract.
  • With a vote of 4-3 on Thursday, the city council in St. Petersburg an agreement to issue bonds to help cover some of the city’s contribution to Rays‘ new ballpark project. Colleen Wright of the Tampa Bay Times (separate links) is looking at both Thursday’s decision and the next step in the process, which is a Dec. 17 meeting of the Pinellas County Commission to approve the bonds and $312.5 million in tourism taxes for the ballpark project. It’s not yet clear how the county commission will vote, and even in the event of a yes, the delays in those votes have already prompted the Rays to threaten to abandon the deal altogether and leave the Tampa/St. Pete area, the team says, it is not possible for the ballpark’s opening to be pushed back to 2029. The original plan called for the new ballpark to be ready for Opening Day 2028, but Hurricane Milton’s destruction of the Tropicana Field roof has left the Rays in a temporary home for George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa in 2025 and uncertain of their location for at least the 2026-27 seasons.