The Braves offseason is off to a slow start, but dominos are beginning to fall, even with the biggest one still standing in Juan Soto.

The thought was that Soto’s free agent decision would be the gunshot to MLB’s Hot Stove track meet, but with Blake Snell and Willy Adames now off the market, clubs are beginning to ink deals with other free agents.

The most recent being a potential Braves free agent outfield target Tyler O’Neill, who agreed to a three-year, $49.5 million contract with the Orioles, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

The 30-year-old was excellent this past season when he was available. He hit 31 homers in just 131 games for Boston and slashed a strong .241/.336/.511 with a 131 wRC+, but he did have two separate trips to the injured list. That’s sort of been the story of O’Neill’s career.

He earned MVP votes a few years, which coincided with the season where he played the most games of his career. O’Neill finished the 2021 campaign with a 148 OPS+ (48% above league average) while playing in 138 games. However, he didn’t eclipse 96 games over the next two seasons before playing in 113 with the Red Sox.

The Braves could probably do a little better for $16.5 million per season, especially considering Atlanta’s probable preference for prioritizing durability. I imagine Alex Anthopoulos is weighing a multitude of factors when targeting free agents, but more than ever, the Braves president of baseball operations has to be concerned with prospective free agents’ health.

While Tyler O’Neill made a lot of sense for several factors, his injury history should probably have scared the Braves off the in the first place. He was always a high-upside kind of a target, but O’Neill certainly didn’t sign a high-upside contract.

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