The Red Sox Still Have A Trevor Story Problem

[Alex Mayes]

I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to start writing my essays on Trevor Story’s lack of production for the Boston Red Sox again this season. I didn’t want to highlight his glaring offensive issues, his mounting errors, or the fact that he shouldn’t be anywhere near the number two spot in the lineup ever again. Like clockwork. though, here we are. The Red Sox are underperforming and Trevor Story is right in the center of why.

[Of course, as I write this, he goes off in a 2-for-4 day with a home run and five RBIs. All stats below are from before that performance, but know that he more than doubled his season-long wRC+ from 22 to 48 in that finale agains the Twins. Perhaps I need to chastise him more frequently...]

Going into the series against the Brewers, Alex Cora finally dropped Story from the two hole in the lineup to fifth. Story’s presence behind Roman Anthony in the leadoff spot struck no fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers. In fact, we surmised on the Talk Sox Podcast that having Story hit behind Anthony would only just increase the amount of intentional passes the young slugger would receive this year. Why pitch to someone who has the potential to flip the game on its head with one swing when you could put him on first and throw non-competitive pitches to the guy behind him who will likely swing away at them instead?

Story offered no protection as the number two hitter, so dropping him in the lineup made the most sense. While he was batting second, Story slashed .119/.119/.214 with one home run, two RBIs, zero walks, and a 40.5% strikeout percentage. He posted a -18 wRC+ to go along with a -0.5 fWAR. From April 6-14, though, he hit .290/.294/.355 with 10 RBIs, a 2.9% walk rate, and a 20.6% strikeout rate while posting an 74 wRC+. He worked his first walk of the season on April 11 and had his first multi-hit game on April 12. Moving him down in the lineup seems to have unlocked something for him. There’s less pressure on him hitting in the middle of the order and he seems far more comfortable.

The one thing Story can’t seem to fix though, is the fact that he’s going to swing away on low-and-away sliders. The book has been out on him for awhile now and when push comes to shove, he’s going to see pitches away out of the zone because the opposing pitcher just knows that bat is going fly. Story often looks shocked each time it happens, like he’s somehow expecting a different result. The only shocking thing is that he sees any other pitches besides those sliders when there’s anything at stake and he’s in the box.

Somehow, despite all of that, the biggest hurdle to overcome with Story is on defense. He currently leads the team in errors with four. When a ball is hit to short, you don’t feel great about it. He’s botched some basic grounders by not getting his glove down enough, but more concerning is that he’s making throwing errors that look egregious. They are throws that you expect a major-league shortstop to make, but instead Willson Contreras is left sprawling out on the ground to try and pick a ball in the dirt that’s more than a foot outside of his wingspan. He currently ranks in the bottom half of the league with -1 defensive runs saved and -2 outs above average.

Story is a net-negative with the glove at this stage of his career. What should happen, but likely won’t since Cora has doubled down on Story being the shortstop for the Red Sox, is that Story and Mayer should switch positions. Yes, you still need range at second, but it's a less demanding position coverage-wise. Mayer has proven to be a defensive wizard at any position he’s been asked to play for the team, but he’s a natural shortstop. Getting him to his long-term position sooner than later would likely pay immediate dividends for the team.

Going back to last season, Story has committed 11 errors in his last 34 games at short. He finished the 2025 season ranked third in all of baseball with 19 errors and currently ranks second in total errors this year. If you were watching the series opener against the Twins, you saw Story's lack of defensive profile on display in the bottom of the first inning. You know what turns a bad inning into a terrible inning for a struggling ace like Garrett Crochet? Whatever it was Story was attempting to do here.

The Red Sox need to figure out a solution to the Trevor Story problem sooner than later. Dropping him in the lineup was the first step in the right direction, but there’s still his defensive position that needs to be addressed at some point. Alex Cora is a good manager, and has proven early on this season that he’ll make changes to try and wake his team up. The thing that could put this team over the top is finally taking Story off shortstop and letting him move back to second base. It fully opens the door for Mayer to step into his own at the position he’s going to play long after Story departs the Red Sox.

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[moonslav59]

He'd be fine as a #6bat vs LHPs and a #7bat vs RHPs, but we don't have enough good hitters to make this happen.

He needs to play 2B... starting yesterday.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

This article is a hatchet job on Story.  Why?  The writer has always supported Mayer as the SS of the future and picking on Story puts thoughts in the head of the incompetent manager and front office about needing change.  No change is needed.  This is a rudderless ship with Cora at the wheel and the merry-go-round line-ups are just reinforcement of his incompetence. 

Current averages of the players don't actually reflect their skills.  That often happens at the beginning of a season and to pick out ONLY ONE individual as this author did is irresponsible.  Is Durbin's .127 average likely to be representative of Durbin?  No.  How about Duran's .167?  No.  Mayer's .188?  Maybe.  Narvaez's .195?  Yes.  Story's .208?  NO but the author went after him anyway!!  How about the great Roman Anthony's .246?  Maybe because he's just a second-year player who may regress from his initial success like Devers did.  On the upside, can Yoshida maintain his .286 average?  i think so.  Can Contreras maintain his .298 average?  HIGHLY UNLIKELY since his career average is .258 and over the last several years it's hovered around .260.  How about Rafaela and his .300 average?  Maybe.  He's in his 3rd full season at age 25 and could be coming into his own as a hitter, especially if he is finally returned to the top of the order where he performed in the minors and had great success.  What about Abreu's .333 average?  NO WAY.  In his 2 full seasons in Boston, he's hit .253 and .247 against mostly right-handed pitchers BUT he's hit .316 and .296 in March/April meaning he drops back roughly 50 points after April until the end of the season.  It's mid-April and I believe his April numbers once again will be his peak for the season.  And I can't emphasize enough that it's mostly against right-handed pitchers limiting his value to the team significantly.  BA vs LH pitchers in his career .218 vs .270 versus RH pitchers.  His value is grossly over-stated by many fans, reporters and front office personnel based on ACTUAL performance to date.

If you rank the players on this team offensively you have no great offensive players!!!  If you rank the players for defensive skills, you have two outstanding players if they are played at their proper positions (Rafaela and Duran).  On offense, here are the facts about each starter:

1 - Story (one good season out of four but the best pedigree on the team for his career)

2 - Anthony (had a good initial season that was cut short but has great potential but not lengthy success that is needed to be considered an elite hitter.)

3 - Rafaela (a non-favorite of Cora's punished since he arrived in Boston by forcing him to the bottom of the order despite his huge clutch factor)

4 - Duran (another non-favorite of Cora who has been an outstanding leadoff man who lost his job to the latest player on the fast track to fame forced by the organization.  Anthony is no lead-off man, he's just the latest player being touted as a star since Devers is gone.  Duran has been an all-star but the writer reflects many biased fans opinions about Duran.  He should be the starting centerfielder and lead-off hitter but we have a horrible manager.

5 - Contreras (like Story he has a good pedigree at hitting FOR A CATCHER NOT A 1B!!!  He's on a four-year decline and was a bad choice by Breslow.  His attitude is a major question because it's hard to tell if he fires up teammates or embarrasses them with his temper and outbursts.  Does he create fear in opposing pitchers?  Nope)

6 - Abreu (streak hitter, streak fielder and best friend to Cora.  Nobody gets more undeserved playing time than this platoon hitter who can't seem to hitter right-handed or left-handed pitchers consistently.  He also makes the most errors in the outfield and somehow wins gold gloves which completely negates the validity of the gold glove award.  This guy constantly swings for the fences, so he's seen as having power like Chris Davis of BAL or Jim Kingman in the old days with the Cubs.  Not only does Abreu not have the clutch gene like Rafaela, but he also has the arrogance of Devers which makes him very unlikeable especially in light of the favoritism he gets from Cora.

7 - Mayer (an unproven 4th pick in the draft in 2021 that has continued to get huge support from the organization and Cora.  His mediocre numbers in the minors suggested a league average shortstop on offense and defense and he's not proven anything beyond that in the MLB.  He's an injury prone player who has had multiple wrist/hand injuries which significantly impacts the ability of the player to hit for power historically.  I think Campbell would be far ahead of him if the CLUB and CORA actually gave him the same support that Mayer gets.  Had Breslow sold the CWS on Mayer not Teel our organization would be far stronger today.  Instead, we have no future C, 3B, SS, 2B or 1B.  Casas should have been the future 1B, Campbell should have been the future SS or Bogaerts should have been the current SS, Bregman should have been the short-term 3B so a future 3B could be drafted   The Crochet deal was GREAT BUT guys like Abreu and Mayer should have been used not Teel or Meidroth.  

8 - Narvaez (A Yankee cast-off for good reason, this guy is an excellent back-up catcher but not a front-line catcher.  Like Wong, he's a ONE YEAR WONDER.  Each catcher had career years and then fell back to the previous level.  His offense is negligible.  He's acceptable when hot and miserable when cold and over below league average.

9 - Durbin (newest member doesn't have enough history to say much.  Not impressive so far but he needs more at bats.  Unfortunately, he's a HUGE step down from Bregman.  Bregman should be the norm on a team that pretends to seek being a contender.  This team is pretending to seek such lofty goals but realistically is a great pitching crap hitting team.  81 games jump out as an estimate of wins.  This team is devastated by the loss of Bregman as opposed to loss of the more highly revered Devers who left without any impact.  No quality 1B is killing the team.  No quality 2B is killing the team.  STORY is just fine overall despite starting slowly.  No quality 3B is killing the team.  NO Anthony in LF, Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF is killing the team.  No batting Duran and Rafaela at the top of the order is killing the team.  Most importantly, no quality MANAGER is killing the team.  Pitching substitutions can be blamed for more than half the loses.  That's on CORA.

Overall, this article was a hit article on Story.  One person's misguided opinion on the performance of the best hitter on the team now that Bregman is gone.  Anthony slumping wasn't even mentioned.  His 54 points lower batting average than Rafaela who bats 9th is one of the biggest reasons the Red Sox are failing miserably.  Did the author mention Mayer is batting .188?  That's lower than Campbell was batting when he was sent to AAA.  Yoshida is batting .286 and should be the full time DH batting near the top of the order.  Maybe if the order was Rafaela, Anthony, Story, Yoshida, Contreras, Abreu, Narvaez, Durbin and Duran the team might score more runs!!!  Maybe if Abreu was traded Yoshida would get the permanent position he came to the US to play and the outfield would make far less errors than they have during the last two seasons!!  

There is no easy way to fix this team and there is no chance it will happen under Cora.

  

[Alex Mayes]

1 hour ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

This article is a hatchet job on Story.  Why?  The writer has always supported Mayer as the SS of the future and picking on Story puts thoughts in the head of the incompetent manager and front office about needing change.  No change is needed.  This is a rudderless ship with Cora at the wheel and the merry-go-round line-ups are just reinforcement of his incompetence. 

Current averages of the players don't actually reflect their skills.  That often happens at the beginning of a season and to pick out ONLY ONE individual as this author did is irresponsible.  Is Durbin's .127 average likely to be representative of Durbin?  No.  How about Duran's .167?  No.  Mayer's .188?  Maybe.  Narvaez's .195?  Yes.  Story's .208?  NO but the author went after him anyway!!  How about the great Roman Anthony's .246?  Maybe because he's just a second-year player who may regress from his initial success like Devers did.  On the upside, can Yoshida maintain his .286 average?  i think so.  Can Contreras maintain his .298 average?  HIGHLY UNLIKELY since his career average is .258 and over the last several years it's hovered around .260.  How about Rafaela and his .300 average?  Maybe.  He's in his 3rd full season at age 25 and could be coming into his own as a hitter, especially if he is finally returned to the top of the order where he performed in the minors and had great success.  What about Abreu's .333 average?  NO WAY.  In his 2 full seasons in Boston, he's hit .253 and .247 against mostly right-handed pitchers BUT he's hit .316 and .296 in March/April meaning he drops back roughly 50 points after April until the end of the season.  It's mid-April and I believe his April numbers once again will be his peak for the season.  And I can't emphasize enough that it's mostly against right-handed pitchers limiting his value to the team significantly.  BA vs LH pitchers in his career .218 vs .270 versus RH pitchers.  His value is grossly over-stated by many fans, reporters and front office personnel based on ACTUAL performance to date.

If you rank the players on this team offensively you have no great offensive players!!!  If you rank the players for defensive skills, you have two outstanding players if they are played at their proper positions (Rafaela and Duran).  On offense, here are the facts about each starter:

1 - Story (one good season out of four but the best pedigree on the team for his career)

2 - Anthony (had a good initial season that was cut short but has great potential but not lengthy success that is needed to be considered an elite hitter.)

3 - Rafaela (a non-favorite of Cora's punished since he arrived in Boston by forcing him to the bottom of the order despite his huge clutch factor)

4 - Duran (another non-favorite of Cora who has been an outstanding leadoff man who lost his job to the latest player on the fast track to fame forced by the organization.  Anthony is no lead-off man, he's just the latest player being touted as a star since Devers is gone.  Duran has been an all-star but the writer reflects many biased fans opinions about Duran.  He should be the starting centerfielder and lead-off hitter but we have a horrible manager.

5 - Contreras (like Story he has a good pedigree at hitting FOR A CATCHER NOT A 1B!!!  He's on a four-year decline and was a bad choice by Breslow.  His attitude is a major question because it's hard to tell if he fires up teammates or embarrasses them with his temper and outbursts.  Does he create fear in opposing pitchers?  Nope)

6 - Abreu (streak hitter, streak fielder and best friend to Cora.  Nobody gets more undeserved playing time than this platoon hitter who can't seem to hitter right-handed or left-handed pitchers consistently.  He also makes the most errors in the outfield and somehow wins gold gloves which completely negates the validity of the gold glove award.  This guy constantly swings for the fences, so he's seen as having power like Chris Davis of BAL or Jim Kingman in the old days with the Cubs.  Not only does Abreu not have the clutch gene like Rafaela, but he also has the arrogance of Devers which makes him very unlikeable especially in light of the favoritism he gets from Cora.

7 - Mayer (an unproven 4th pick in the draft in 2021 that has continued to get huge support from the organization and Cora.  His mediocre numbers in the minors suggested a league average shortstop on offense and defense and he's not proven anything beyond that in the MLB.  He's an injury prone player who has had multiple wrist/hand injuries which significantly impacts the ability of the player to hit for power historically.  I think Campbell would be far ahead of him if the CLUB and CORA actually gave him the same support that Mayer gets.  Had Breslow sold the CWS on Mayer not Teel our organization would be far stronger today.  Instead, we have no future C, 3B, SS, 2B or 1B.  Casas should have been the future 1B, Campbell should have been the future SS or Bogaerts should have been the current SS, Bregman should have been the short-term 3B so a future 3B could be drafted   The Crochet deal was GREAT BUT guys like Abreu and Mayer should have been used not Teel or Meidroth.  

8 - Narvaez (A Yankee cast-off for good reason, this guy is an excellent back-up catcher but not a front-line catcher.  Like Wong, he's a ONE YEAR WONDER.  Each catcher had career years and then fell back to the previous level.  His offense is negligible.  He's acceptable when hot and miserable when cold and over below league average.

9 - Durbin (newest member doesn't have enough history to say much.  Not impressive so far but he needs more at bats.  Unfortunately, he's a HUGE step down from Bregman.  Bregman should be the norm on a team that pretends to seek being a contender.  This team is pretending to seek such lofty goals but realistically is a great pitching crap hitting team.  81 games jump out as an estimate of wins.  This team is devastated by the loss of Bregman as opposed to loss of the more highly revered Devers who left without any impact.  No quality 1B is killing the team.  No quality 2B is killing the team.  STORY is just fine overall despite starting slowly.  No quality 3B is killing the team.  NO Anthony in LF, Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF is killing the team.  No batting Duran and Rafaela at the top of the order is killing the team.  Most importantly, no quality MANAGER is killing the team.  Pitching substitutions can be blamed for more than half the loses.  That's on CORA.

Overall, this article was a hit article on Story.  One person's misguided opinion on the performance of the best hitter on the team now that Bregman is gone.  Anthony slumping wasn't even mentioned.  His 54 points lower batting average than Rafaela who bats 9th is one of the biggest reasons the Red Sox are failing miserably.  Did the author mention Mayer is batting .188?  That's lower than Campbell was batting when he was sent to AAA.  Yoshida is batting .286 and should be the full time DH batting near the top of the order.  Maybe if the order was Rafaela, Anthony, Story, Yoshida, Contreras, Abreu, Narvaez, Durbin and Duran the team might score more runs!!!  Maybe if Abreu was traded Yoshida would get the permanent position he came to the US to play and the outfield would make far less errors than they have during the last two seasons!!  

There is no easy way to fix this team and there is no chance it will happen under Cora.

  

If you actually read the article you'd have noticed that the problem I outlined had nothing to do with Story's offense, outside of the hole in his swing when he's thrown a low and away slider. It's specifically about how he is now a defensive liability at shortstop and should be moved for a better defender. 

The other players you mentioned were not addressed in this article because they don't factor into the discussion about Story's defensive inabilities. 

[illinoisredsox]

6 hours ago, Alex Mayes said:

If you actually read the article you'd have noticed that the problem I outlined had nothing to do with Story's offense, outside of the hole in his swing when he's thrown a low and away slider. It's specifically about how he is now a defensive liability at shortstop and should be moved for a better defender. 

The other players you mentioned were not addressed in this article because they don't factor into the discussion about Story's defensive inabilities. 

Ya gotta admit TYPM is consistent.  Every reply pretty much the same.  No matter what the subject of the article/post, work in a slam of Cora to start off (and make no mistake here, there are things about Cora that could be discussed).  Then make sure we all know how bad Abreu, Narvaez and Mayer are while making sure we all know that Campbell's problems are the organization's fault for moving him off his "natural" position (something that virtually every right handed position player in the majors (infield and outfield) had to do and something that didn't seem to adversely affect Campell during his rapid rise through the minors).

[mvp 78]

22 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

He'd be fine as a #6bat vs LHPs and a #7bat vs RHPs, but we don't have enough good hitters to make this happen.

He needs to play 2B... starting yesterday.

I think this is what most of us have thought going back to the offseason. It doesn't make sense to have him at SS or hitting high in the order. Put him lower in the order and take some pressure off. 

[mvp 78]

On 4/16/2026 at 6:53 AM, Alex Mayes said:

Alex Cora is a good manager, and has proven early on this season that he’ll make changes to try and wake his team up. The thing that could put this team over the top is finally taking Story off shortstop and letting him move back to second base. It fully opens the door for Mayer to step into his own at the position he’s going to play long after Story departs the Red Sox.

 

View full article

 

I would say that he has not shown that he's capable of moving veteran position players to new positions or even starting that conversation. The defensive miscues and other ongoing issues with the team (on and off the field) are causing me to question how good of a manager he really is.

[Alex Mayes]

30 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I would say that he has not shown that he's capable of moving veteran position players to new positions or even starting that conversation. The defensive miscues and other ongoing issues with the team (on and off the field) are causing me to question how good of a manager he really is.

You're spot on. I have my complaints about Cora, and its a growing list this season, but I think he's still a good manager at the end of the day. I think he's on a slippery slope to losing that title this year though. 

My biggest gripe right now is the Story situation as a whole. They had no problem making Devers move off third and then trading him when he wouldn't play first, but for some reason Story is untouchable. Devers came through the organization, he was forced to be the face of the franchise after his extension, but he was still moved around. Why is Story so untouchable here? It doesn't make any sense.

[Alex Mayes]

39 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think this is what most of us have thought going back to the offseason. It doesn't make sense to have him at SS or hitting high in the order. Put him lower in the order and take some pressure off. 

A likely unpopular opinion, but I'd DH him at this point. It further clogs the logjam of players on the 26-man roster, but I believe it's where he would thrive the most. It's impossible to do without trading Masa right now though.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Alex Mayes said:

You're spot on. I have my complaints about Cora, and its a growing list this season, but I think he's still a good manager at the end of the day. I think he's on a slippery slope to losing that title this year though. 

My biggest gripe right now is the Story situation as a whole. They had no problem making Devers move off third and then trading him when he wouldn't play first, but for some reason Story is untouchable. Devers came through the organization, he was forced to be the face of the franchise after his extension, but he was still moved around. Why is Story so untouchable here? It doesn't make any sense.

They had a major problem moving Devers.

1. They started the move about 2-3 years too late.

2. Apparently Cora never really even told or asked him to change positions.

3. They played Story at 2B and Bogey at SS in 2022, when that should have been reversed, too!

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Alex Mayes said:

You're spot on. I have my complaints about Cora, and its a growing list this season, but I think he's still a good manager at the end of the day. I think he's on a slippery slope to losing that title this year though. 

My biggest gripe right now is the Story situation as a whole. They had no problem making Devers move off third and then trading him when he wouldn't play first, but for some reason Story is untouchable. Devers came through the organization, he was forced to be the face of the franchise after his extension, but he was still moved around. Why is Story so untouchable here? It doesn't make any sense.

And IF Story is really the team leader people say he is, he should be MORE willing to accept a move to a new position. Maybe he is willing and Cora just doesn't see a problem yet? Seems obvious to most everyone else. Even if you have to platoon Mayer here and there, I think you can run out IKF or Monasterio once in a while at SS and it'd be fine enough. 

[Alex Mayes]

13 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

They had a major problem moving Devers.

1. They started the move about 2-3 years too late.

2. Apparently Cora never really even told or asked him to change positions.

3. They played Story at 2B and Bogey at SS in 2022, when that should have been reversed, too!

There's validity to that. Weren't they aware of his elbow issues in 22 and that helped make the decision to slide him to 2B? I recall reading that somewhere but can't put my finger on it now. 

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Alex Mayes said:

A likely unpopular opinion, but I'd DH him at this point. It further clogs the logjam of players on the 26-man roster, but I believe it's where he would thrive the most. It's impossible to do without trading Masa right now though.

That's less unpopular than trading an OFer that can no longer throw (Roman) in a package for an IFer with power. The other more tradable OF asset would be Rafaela, which would move Duran to CF. I've heard that his name comes up a bunch in trade requests and the Sox could probably get two quality arms for him. Maybe giving up on Story playing defense just pushes Rafaela back to 2b for the remainder of the year. 

I think they deal Masa at the deadline and eat a certain amount of '27 $'s. They are holding onto him for injury insurance for the short term. 

[Alex Mayes]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

And IF Story is really the team leader people say he is, he should be MORE willing to accept a move to a new position. Maybe he is willing and Cora just doesn't see a problem yet? Seems obvious to most everyone else. Even if you have to platoon Mayer here and there, I think you can run out IKF or Monasterio once in a while at SS and it'd be fine enough. 

That's the kicker too. If Story is this team leader some people are making him out to be, he should be perfectly okay with it if it makes the team better. 

I think if you give Mayer more at bats against left-handed pitching then the platoon worry goes away. He's not a perfect offensive player by any means, but the swing changes he's made will have a positive impact the more often he's out there. Out of those two though, give me Monasterio. IKF isn't long for this team unless there's a major injury in the infield. 

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, Alex Mayes said:

There's validity to that. Weren't they aware of his elbow issues in 22 and that helped make the decision to slide him to 2B? I recall reading that somewhere but can't put my finger on it now. 

HIs arm issues were known at the time of the FA signing. It wasn't a surprise when he finally missed '23. 

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, Alex Mayes said:

There's validity to that. Weren't they aware of his elbow issues in 22 and that helped make the decision to slide him to 2B? I recall reading that somewhere but can't put my finger on it now. 

Yes, he was still somewhat recovering and was building up his arm strength.

That one was more understandable.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

22 hours ago, Alex Mayes said:

If you actually read the article you'd have noticed that the problem I outlined had nothing to do with Story's offense, outside of the hole in his swing when he's thrown a low and away slider. It's specifically about how he is now a defensive liability at shortstop and should be moved for a better defender. 

The other players you mentioned were not addressed in this article because they don't factor into the discussion about Story's defensive inabilities. 

Since when do you care about defensive accuracy?  You watch Abreu lead the team in errors and get gold gloves and praise him.  I don't respect your knowledge of the game because of many things but when it comes to complaints it's always targeted with an agenda.  You want the crap defender Mayer at SS which is crap.  Today's Story is the follow-up to your lead-in.  You are fooling nobody.  You always have an agenda!!

[Alex Mayes]

6 minutes ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

Since when do you care about defensive accuracy?  You watch Abreu lead the team in errors and get gold gloves and praise him.  I don't respect your knowledge of the game because of many things but when it comes to complaints it's always targeted with an agenda.  You want the crap defender Mayer at SS which is crap.  Today's Story is the follow-up to your lead-in.  You are fooling nobody.  You always have an agenda!!

Actually, Trevor Story led the team in errors last season with 19, which was ten more than number two on that list. Abreu came in at eighth overall with five. Kristian Campbell ranked ahead of him though, with seven. 

[Alex Mayes]

38 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

That's less unpopular than trading an OFer that can no longer throw (Roman) in a package for an IFer with power. The other more tradable OF asset would be Rafaela, which would move Duran to CF. I've heard that his name comes up a bunch in trade requests and the Sox could probably get two quality arms for him. Maybe giving up on Story playing defense just pushes Rafaela back to 2b for the remainder of the year. 

I think they deal Masa at the deadline and eat a certain amount of '27 $'s. They are holding onto him for injury insurance for the short term. 

Missed this comment when we were discussing, sorry about that. Last season I was against a Rafaela trade but I've warmed up to it now. Roman is likely still untouchable and he should be. I think the absolute worst case scenario with him, if he can't figure out the arm issues, is he can move to first base. Not ideal by any means, and won't happen while Contreras is around and healthy, but it would take a ton of pressure off him playing there.

I said on the last episode of the podcast I'd move Ceddanne to second, Mayer to short, Duran to center, and Roman to left full time to put the best defensive unit on the field, but I still think the smart move is to trade Duran. His value will never be as high as it was in 24 when he should have been dealt, but he can net you something as part of a package now.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

2 minutes ago, Alex Mayes said:

Actually, Trevor Story led the team in errors last season with 19, which was ten more than number two on that list. Abreu came in at eighth overall with five. Kristian Campbell ranked ahead of him though, with seven. 

Your comment shows your ignorance for defensive statistics.  You should do your homework on fielding percentage.  He had 19 errors in a whopping 635 chances and a fielding percentage of .970.  Mayer's fielding percentage at SS in the minors was .953 which stinks.  In the majors, he's gotten an out on 1 of 2 chances for a fielding percentage of .500!!!  WOW that's impressive.

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Alex Mayes said:

Actually, Trevor Story led the team in errors last season with 19, which was ten more than number two on that list. Abreu came in at eighth overall with five. Kristian Campbell ranked ahead of him though, with seven. 

I'm not defending Story's defense, because I agree he belongs at 2B not SS, but 19 errors is not a ton for SSs.

He had 11 throwing errors, and I'm sure his weak arm led to numerous infield hits not counted as errors.

Only 3 SSs in MLB played more inning sat SS and had less fielding errors (not throwing.)

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

Your comment shows your ignorance for defensive statistics.  You should do your homework on fielding percentage.  He had 19 errors in a whopping 635 chances and a fielding percentage of .970.  Mayer's fielding percentage at SS in the minors was .953 which stinks.  In the majors, he's gotten an out on 1 of 2 chances for a fielding percentage of .500!!!  WOW that's impressive.

Your reliance on Flg% shows your knowledge level.

[Alex Mayes]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not defending Story's defense, because I agree he belongs at 2B not SS, but 19 errors is not a ton for SSs.

He had 11 throwing errors, and I'm sure his weak arm led to numerous infield hits not counted as errors.

Only 3 SSs in MLB played more inning sat SS and had less fielding errors (not throwing.)

I agree 100% that it's not a lot for the modern shortstop, just calling out wrong claims when I see them.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

Here is another helpful hint to you Alan about defensive metrics.  The number of balls played (total chances) varies greatly by position.  That's why fielding percentage adjusts for the difference by creating a success for the fielder.  Abreu has 493 total chances and 13 errors over two full seasons and two partial seasons.  He won GG in the two full seasons with a total of with 228 chances and 7 errors in 2024 and 227 chances and 5 errors in 2025.  By comparison, Rafaela has played 2 partial and 2 full seasons as well.  In 2024 he had 187 chances and made 3 errors and in 2025 he had 332 chances with 5 errors.  So during his two full years Abreu made 12 errors and won two gold gloves and Rafaela made 8 errors and won one GG.  Overall, 

In 2024 when Abreu got his first bogus GG he had a fielding percentage of .969 and LEAGUE AVERAGE was .986 nearly 20 points higher!!!!  That's why I consider it bogus.  In 2025, Abreu got his second bogus GG he had a fielding percentage of .978 and LEAGUE AVERAGE was .987 (9 points higher to be league average!!).

In 2026 Mayer has made 2 errors in 52 chances for a .962 fielding percentage with League Average being .988 so he's just 26 points below league average.  That sure sounds like he is consistently bad at fielding since it's very similar to his minor league numbers.  His hype is beyond disgusting.  The guy is at best a league average player and at worst a DFA waiting to happen.  Good thing he's connected.

[mvp 78]

44 minutes ago, Alex Mayes said:

Actually, Trevor Story led the team in errors last season with 19, which was ten more than number two on that list. Abreu came in at eighth overall with five. Kristian Campbell ranked ahead of him though, with seven. 

Abreu should have had 20 errors, but the scorer was being nice since Abreu was dealing with newborn twins at home. 

[Alex Mayes]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Abreu should have had 20 errors, but the scorer was being nice since Abreu was dealing with newborn twins at home. 

The scorer is probably best friends with Alex Cora.

[mvp 78]

39 minutes ago, Alex Mayes said:

Missed this comment when we were discussing, sorry about that. Last season I was against a Rafaela trade but I've warmed up to it now. Roman is likely still untouchable and he should be. I think the absolute worst case scenario with him, if he can't figure out the arm issues, is he can move to first base. Not ideal by any means, and won't happen while Contreras is around and healthy, but it would take a ton of pressure off him playing there.

I said on the last episode of the podcast I'd move Ceddanne to second, Mayer to short, Duran to center, and Roman to left full time to put the best defensive unit on the field, but I still think the smart move is to trade Duran. His value will never be as high as it was in 24 when he should have been dealt, but he can net you something as part of a package now.

Trading Roman would be the craziest move the Sox have done in 100 years. Would be even more unpopular than letting Mookie go. I'm not advocating for it either. 

I'd rather they keep Rafaela in CF, but it seems they are as unable to move Duran as they are Masa. At some point, they need to find ways to fit these guys onto the roster. Duran's defense has played up in CF in the past, maybe it can do the same in '26? They do lose a ton of Rafaela's value the second he moves off of CF. That's the problem with how this roster has been constructed. 

[drewski6]

55 minutes ago, Alex Mayes said:

Actually, Trevor Story led the team in errors last season with 19, which was ten more than number two on that list. Abreu came in at eighth overall with five. Kristian Campbell ranked ahead of him though, with seven. 

This is the first post that Ive seen in this thread, from Alex, that I would consider to have "an agenda"

[drewski6]

50 minutes ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

Your comment shows your ignorance for defensive statistics.  You should do your homework on fielding percentage.  He had 19 errors in a whopping 635 chances and a fielding percentage of .970.  Mayer's fielding percentage at SS in the minors was .953 which stinks.  In the majors, he's gotten an out on 1 of 2 chances for a fielding percentage of .500!!!  WOW that's impressive.

What if we divorced the 2?  Would you be open to moving Story off of SS if it was someone else to take over?

[Alex Mayes]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Trading Roman would be the craziest move the Sox have done in 100 years. Would be even more unpopular than letting Mookie go. I'm not advocating for it either. 

I'd rather they keep Rafaela in CF, but it seems they are as unable to move Duran as they are Masa. At some point, they need to find ways to fit these guys onto the roster. Duran's defense has played up in CF in the past, maybe it can do the same in '26? They do lose a ton of Rafaela's value the second he moves off of CF. That's the problem with how this roster has been constructed. 

Without a doubt. I'd also prefer to keep Rafaela in CF but you're absolutely correct that the biggest flaw across the board is roster construction.