<\/p>\n
Injuries and poor hitting have plagued the St. Louis Cardinals most of the season. Now, with the Cardinals (21-28) on a hot streak, outfielder Tyler O’Neill is about to come back from injury. But that’s not exactly great news.<\/p>\n
O’Neill, on the injured list since May 4 with a lower-back strain, is hitting just .228 (21-for-92) with four doubles, two home runs, six RBI and 12 runs scored in 99 plate appearances this season. He has struck out 34 times and stranded 47 runners this season.<\/p>\n
In addition, O’Neill has a -.3 WAR and an abysmal wRC+ of 74<\/a>. (For an average player, the standard for WAR is about two with a wRC+<\/a> of 100.)<\/p>\n In other words, O’Neill is a giant black hole in the lineup and statistically St. Louis’ worst outfielder. The Cardinals would be better off trading him.<\/p>\n In his last game, O’Neill went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the Cardinals’ 11-7 loss to Angels. Since that game, the Cardinals are 10-6 with a +40 run differential and have\u00a0<\/strong>moved from last in the NL Central to fourth place.\u00a0<\/p>\n With Lars Nootbaar, Dylan Carlson, Alec Burleson, Juan Yepez and Jordan Walker, St. Louis has better options than O’Neill for the outfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n Walker was sent back to Triple-A due to a lack of performance, but he was hitting .274, much better than O’Neill, with the same number of home runs in 22 fewer at-bats.\u00a0<\/p>\n