Trading Places: Should A Trevor Story-Marcelo Mayer Position Swap Be on the Red Sox's Radar?

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, notin said:

Well, according to fielding percentage, those are clearly not a problem.

But he does have decent right-handed power and is a good baserunner…

2025-2026

Story is 3rd in throwing errors (14), so yes, that does affect his Flg%. (To be fair, he's tied for second in fielding errors with 9)

12 of the top 13 SS inning players had 3-7 throwing errors. All the top 13 SSs had 6-9 fielding errors, so the context shows Stories arm hurts his Fldg% and Fldg% ranking.

A weak arm will not show up in Fldg%, correct, but it does show up in the advanced metrics.

With the arm, glove and range combined, fangraphs has Story tied with Bogey as the 4th worst defensive SS in rPM at -7 (+/- runs saved above average.)

Get him outta there!

The SS position is too valuable to mess around with.

[mvp 78]

On 4/18/2026 at 12:36 PM, notin said:

I’m hesitant to crown Arias anything yet, but certainly possible…

He seems like a good AA player.

[mvp 78]

On 4/18/2026 at 12:40 PM, notin said:

Yu Chang was a stud defender…

A decent defender who had to hit 9th. That's the kind of guy who gets DFA'd over and over again like Yu Chang.

[notin]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

A decent defender who had to hit 9th. That's the kind of guy who gets DFA'd over and over again like Yu Chang.

Chang had a .564 OPS with Boston.  That’s better than Story, Durbin, Mayer and Narvaez…

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, notin said:

Chang had a .564 OPS with Boston.  That’s better than Story, Durbin, Mayer and Narvaez…

🆒

[Nick]

On 4/17/2026 at 2:14 PM, moonslav59 said:

Despite calling Kike one of the "best defensive SSs in MLB."

It seems some of his choices are based on disillusions.

Not to mention insisting on Kike bat leadoff. Cora can be a joke. He becomes fixated on a player and has trouble moving off of it.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

On 4/17/2026 at 11:46 AM, mvp 78 said:

At least get our writers' names correct. 

If the only thing you are going to use is fielding percentage, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Story has been DREADFUL since the beginning of September and it's not getting better. Every defensive metric, including fielding percentage, has Story as WORSE than Mayer right now. Story used to be better, but he has aged off the position. It's what happens to guys in their 30's. 

You continue to use insignificant segments to evaluate players.  A guy is hot for a week, and you like him and he's practically a HOFER.  A guy has a couple of weeks that contradict his entire fielding history, and you are all over the guy.  It's not like Boston has a better defensive SS on the MLB roster.   AAA has at least two and who knows below AAA.  Face it, Mayer is a bust defensively and offensively and Story is the current player with the best pedigree on offense and defense.  The data backs up both factual statements.

You are full of generalizations because they are part of the metric generation that doesn't care about accuracy.  You make enormous assumptions that are not true and they are said with such conviction you seem to think that validates them.  It doesn't.  It's just a loud wrong commentary that falls on the public's deaf ears.

[mvp 78]

Just now, Nick said:

Not to mention insisting on Kike bat leadoff. Cora can be a joke. He becomes fixated on a player and has trouble moving off of it.

When he made that comment, both he and Kiké laughed about it. I don't think he was that serious. Cora was given an imperfect lineup and had to play Kiké out of position. The MIF has typically been a problem since Xander left. 

Chaim still had over a week after the Xander debacle to swoop in and sign Dansby Swanson to play SS, but didn't do so. 

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

You continue to use insignificant segments to evaluate players.  A guy is hot for a week, and you like him and he's practically a HOFER.  A guy has a couple of weeks that contradict his entire fielding history, and you are all over the guy.  It's not like Boston has a better defensive SS on the MLB roster.   AAA has at least two and who knows below AAA.  Face it, Mayer is a bust defensively and offensively and Story is the current player with the best pedigree on offense and defense.  The data backs up both factual statements.

You are full of generalizations because they are part of the metric generation that doesn't care about accuracy.  You make enormous assumptions that are not true and they are said with such conviction you seem to think that validates them.  It doesn't.  It's just a loud wrong commentary that falls on the public's deaf ears.

Pedigree only last so long as a player ages. With Story, he's just getting old. His defense has been PUTRID for the past 60 games. It's not going to get better. Good defense doesn't go into slumps like this. You could ignore a few bad throws, but his range has been terrible. Story is toast. Just use fielding percentage if you want. It's been terrible! 

[Nick]

I am just waiting for 2027 to expire along with Yoshida ($18M) and Story's ($23M) contracts. 

If current situation does not improve, it's time to clean house at the trade deadline.

Bring up young pitching prospects. Get rid of Bello. I watched the replay of his last start and I literally became very ill when I saw his pitch count in the 1st inning reach 34 and counting. 

He more than any other pitcher in our organization requires an Opener. 

[mvp 78]

Just now, Nick said:

I am just waiting for 2027 to expire along with Yoshida ($18M) and Story's ($23M) contracts. 

If current situation does not improve, it's time to clean house.

Bring up young pitching prospects. Get rid of Bello. I watched the replay of his last start and I literally became very ill when I saw his pitch count in the 1st inning reach 34 and counting. 

He more than any other pitcher in our organization requires an Opener. 

Henry wants to eat as little of these contracts as possible. I think he can eat one year at a time. I don't think he'll eat two years. There's a chance these guys can be moved this deadline if the Sox are out of it or in the offseason with significant $$$ being taken on by the Sox. The cap resets with a new CBA so I there shouldn't be any concerns there. 

[notin]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

When he made that comment, both he and Kiké laughed about it. I don't think he was that serious. Cora was given an imperfect lineup and had to play Kiké out of position. The MIF has typically been a problem since Xander left. 

Chaim still had over a week after the Xander debacle to swoop in and sign Dansby Swanson to play SS, but didn't do so. 

But he already sign Story the year before.  Kike at SS was because of a Story injury.  The problem wasn’t that the Sox didn’t stockpile 9 figure contracts at SS; the problem was the replacement once Story went down was an oft-injured player who spent the entire season injured and never suited up for a single game…

[moonslav59]

24 minutes ago, Nick said:

Not to mention insisting on Kike bat leadoff. Cora can be a joke. He becomes fixated on a player and has trouble moving off of it.

That seems to be his major flaw, and firing a manger is always easier than rebooting the whole roster.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, notin said:

But he already sign Story the year before.  Kike at SS was because of a Story injury.  The problem wasn’t that the Sox didn’t stockpile 9 figure contracts at SS; the problem was the replacement once Story went down was an oft-injured player who spent the entire season injured and never suited up for a single game…

Story should have stayed at 2b. Swanson was a real SS. We had this discussion at the time. It's not buzzarding.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That seems to be his major flaw, and firing a manger is always easier than rebooting the whole roster.

This Red Sox would never.

[mvp 78]

Cora knows where Carmine is buried. 

[Duran Is The Man]

29 minutes ago, Nick said:

I am just waiting for 2027 to expire along with Yoshida ($18M) and Story's ($23M) contracts. 

If current situation does not improve, it's time to clean house at the trade deadline.

Bring up young pitching prospects. Get rid of Bello. I watched the replay of his last start and I literally became very ill when I saw his pitch count in the 1st inning reach 34 and counting. 

He more than any other pitcher in our organization requires an Opener. 

thank gawd they "locked up" Bello with an unnecessary extension. you're really going to get ill when you find out they have to pay him $21M in 2030. 😂😂😂

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

thank gawd they "locked up" Bello with an unnecessary extension. you're really going to get ill when you find out they have to pay him $21M in 2030. 😂😂😂

That's a club option in '30. They can be done with him in '29. There are escalators in the contract for ASG appearances and CY votes (only affects '29 and '30). 

[TedYazPapiMookie]

On 4/17/2026 at 3:03 PM, Ryan Salvaggio said:

Soooo.... the last time I checked, the analytics referenced in the article that clearly showcase a decline in Story's defensive ability are indeed facts.... since it's actual data that showcases he's been bad defensively. Not like those are made up or anything. He's also getting older.... players tend to decline when they get older, their abilities diminish, like his have been. So most teams and people thinking critically would see that, while also seeing a younger option that can step in and be solid there, when that should be the plan for the future before Franklin Arias gets here, and maybe consider it for the betterment of the team. 2024 Story also only played 26 games, kinda weird you left that out in your argument for him and it's not like I said to bench him, just move him to a spot that takes some pressure off him and where he was borderline elite before. If you'd prefer to keep running him out there though with his declining numbers over someone who's 10 years younger than him though to each their own I guess.  

Ryan, better read up on what metrics are and how they are fabricated (calculated).   Data is generated when a player gets an assist, put out or error.  Estimates are created when a party tries to determine if something like a run was saved.  To do that you must first fabricate a set of rules for what makes for a run saved, then you have to apply it to a completely unique set of circumstances in a fair way.  Who gets to decide if the determination is fair?  An umpire?  No.  A sportswriter?  No.  A fan?  Yes, in a way.  A PERSON or set of PEOPLE who get hired to make judgements unbeknownst to the public so there is no opportunity to disagree with their decisions.  You must simply trust their estimates are correct.  That's why it's an estimate not a fact/stat.  Facts/stats are base data.  Estimates are derivative data.  BIG DIFFERENCE in accuracy.  Are there mistakes made in gathering facts thanks to biased or simply bad score keeping?  Yes, but those mistakes are catalysts to even bigger mistakes in the downstream estimates.

I think Arias is the heir apparent at shortstop until he proves he isn't.  Mayer was supposed to be but his fielding percentage in the minors was miserable.  Heck, it wasn't that much better than Devers!!! OUCH.  Arias is only at AA and has done a much better job defensively than Mayer did BUT he can't hit MLB pitching at this point in time so let Story stick at SS until Arias is ready or trade for a legitimate MLB SS who is defensively better than Story and then move him to 2B where he will be the same guy that he is playing SS with the same skills.  He'll need to transition his throwing motion to accommodate the position change and that may make him a worse 2B, even if the throw is shorter.  

Age really isn't as big of an impact to the elite players.  Nolan Arenado is still a better 3B defensively than nearly all other 3Bs and he's ancient in the minds of many young people (35) but great hands don't typical fall off as fast as running speed, bat speed or pitch recognition.  Story may keep getting worse.  He has 4 errors, but he might not error again before April ends.  Devers beginning in 2018 his first full season had 5 errors through April and finished with 24, 8 errors in 2019 and finished with 22, 3 errors in 2021 and finished with 22, 0 errors in 2022 and finished with 14, 1 error in 2023 and finished with 19, 1 error in 2024 and finished with 12 in a shortened season of 130 games.  What does this show?  Starting bad doesn't mean ending the season bad, starting good doesn't mean ending the season good.  Story has played just 19 games and people are extrapolating his errors in a straight line, but they don't occur that way as I have shown with Devers.  Devers has a .944 fielding % at 3B and Story has a .977 fielding % over 10 years, one more year than Devers.  His history suggests he will regress to his mean, so I'll take a .977 fielding % any day!!

When the weather warms up and Story starts hitting people won't focus on his defense.  This is much ado about nothing.  Players have bad stretches and come out of it.  Aren't we all hoping that is what's happening to Anthony's offense?  No need to pile on Story because someone wants Mayer to be the new SS.  He's a below league average defender historically.  I'm more worried about him getting hurt than making errors. 

We failed in 2025 when Bregman got hurt and Story is the new top dog that we need in the line-up.  That doesn't bode well for the team except we have a much-improved pitching staff that is handcuffed by the manager.  

[mvp 78]

You know what is an estimate? Whether something is ruled a hit or an error by the scorekeeper. How often are these rulings overturned an inning or two later after a player appeals? C'mon. Modern metrics have much more value than a scorekeeper determining if Jarren Duran letting a ball drop next to him should be an error or not. 

[moonslav59]

42 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

You know what is an estimate? Whether something is ruled a hit or an error by the scorekeeper. How often are these rulings overturned an inning or two later after a player appeals? C'mon. Modern metrics have much more value than a scorekeeper determining if Jarren Duran letting a ball drop next to him should be an error or not. 

It's hopeless trying to talk sense to TYPM.

[Maxbialystock]

On 4/18/2026 at 12:47 PM, moonslav59 said:

2025-2026

Story is 3rd in throwing errors (14), so yes, that does affect his Flg%. (To be fair, he's tied for second in fielding errors with 9)

12 of the top 13 SS inning players had 3-7 throwing errors. All the top 13 SSs had 6-9 fielding errors, so the context shows Stories arm hurts his Fldg% and Fldg% ranking.

A weak arm will not show up in Fldg%, correct, but it does show up in the advanced metrics.

With the arm, glove and range combined, fangraphs has Story tied with Bogey as the 4th worst defensive SS in rPM at -7 (+/- runs saved above average.)

Get him outta there!

The SS position is too valuable to mess around with.

First, I would definitely like to see the swtich made between Mayer and Story.

Second, however,  making that switch won't fix the hitting, which is killing the Sox.  I agree it would help the pitching, but not by much.  This season the Sox have pretty good defenders in the outfield and in the infield except at SS.  

 

 

 

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

First, I would definitely like to see the swtich made between Mayer and Story.

Second, however,  making that switch won't fix the hitting, which is killing the Sox.  I agree it would help the pitching, but not by much.  This season the Sox have pretty good defenders in the outfield and in the infield except at SS.  

Yes, it doesn't help the batting, which looks helpless, right now.

Why not put the better fielding alignment on the field?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes, it doesn't help the batting, which looks helpless, right now.

Why not put the better fielding alignment on the field?

Has any club that ever stressed "run prevention" this much not played its best possible defense?

If you mean it, Front Office, show us you mean it! 

... or is the team maybe run by the Back Office?

[mvp 78]

23 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

First, I would definitely like to see the swtich made between Mayer and Story.

Second, however,  making that switch won't fix the hitting, which is killing the Sox.  I agree it would help the pitching, but not by much.  This season the Sox have pretty good defenders in the outfield and in the infield except at SS.  

I think the hitting will come around. These guys won't be hitting under 600 OPS the remainder of the year. Fixing the defense now makes sense though. 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Has any club that ever stressed "run prevention" this much not played its best possible defense?

If you mean it, Front Office, show us you mean it! 

... or is the team maybe run by the Back Office?

Good point.

More evidence that it's all talk and little action.

[mvp 78]

19 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Good point.

More evidence that it's all talk and little action.

Easier said than done? 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Easier said than done? 

True, especially with entrenched vets. I'm not sure how Story would take "the conversation." 

Maybe start with a question not a demand.

[Duran Is The Man]

6 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

That's a club option in '30. They can be done with him in '29. There are escalators in the contract for ASG appearances and CY votes (only affects '29 and '30). 

fangraphs says club option. baseball ref says player option. good thing it is a club option.

[alsoason]

We will say this, do we think Story earned the crazy money he was paid to get hurt and play subpar ball throughout the contract, HELL NO. Bello is another example of getting WAY OVERPAID for just how much he has mastered his craft. Roman Anthony needs to hit either in the 3 hole or clean up. Put Duran back leading off, If the season continues as it has started without a doubt Story is gone at the trade deadline, hell he might be gone no matter what, even if they start jelling. All of a sudden I see Free Agent, and the word Union in a different light. The Owners WILL WIN in the coming lockout. Contracts should be year to year  performance driven with each player on every team having the ability to earn as much money as he can produce. Change is coming to MLB. Everyone knows the "economy" is just one giant leveraged bubble. The Owners should take back their assets, and cut their costs through a new pay scale saving them Capital which they can return to the fans through cut ticket prices(we are talking over 50% in most cases) and concessions at the Ballpark. There had to be a ceiling somewhere in the Monopoly game, with the mockery the Dodgers are making of the "open market"" push back was 100% assured.