What Will The Red Sox Do With Trevor Story When He Returns?

Shakespeare said it best:  much ado about nothing.  

My version:  a stupid article just to write something, anything.  

Reality:  when Story is ready, Cora will plug him in at SS or 2b, depending on the needs at the time.  I frankly like 2b because I like Rafaela at SS and Duran in CF, leaving LF and RF for Ref, Abreau, O'Neill, et al.  

We know Story is a plus middle infield defender because we've seen that right here in Boston, and there is no end to the rantings and ravings on talksox about the dire need for good defense--almost to the extent of ignoring hitting and pitching, but not quite. 

Also, as was the case with Yoshida earlier this season, why wouldn't Cora play someone being paid $22M/season, who is also a plus defender and, back in Colorado, a plus hitter?  

I thought, you thought, we all thought Mayer was going to shore up the middle infield next year, but he too is injury-prone.  All the more reason to take a look at Story this season.  

30 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I'm assuming it would be a Sale-like trade where they would have to eat a chunk.

Trade Story (3 yes $80mill) for Kris Bryant (4 yrs $108mill) and you get your RHH power bat.

Figure out later where he plsys

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Maybe I'm a Pollyanna for injured guys, but I think Story can rebound, and he's absolutely a fit for this team's needs.  He's a superior defender, especially compared to our other infielders (LOL).  And he's a right-handed bat with power.  As to the injuries, that's a whole other can of worms.  But it seems to me he's had some s***** luck. 

29 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Trevor Story has more HR in less games in the past 3 seasons than Kris Bryant.

It’s pretty much the best the Sox can get in a Story trade.  Best move is, if Mayer is ready, move Story to 2b.  And move in Grissom when he gets hurt.

3 minutes ago, bkzwhitestrican said:

Is anyone sure that Story is still a good player? In his 3 years with Boston he has a combined .681 OPS (.227/.287/.394) and he'll be 32 next season. If the opportunity presents itself I'd offload him for whatever you can get. 

Was Sale a good pitcher? 
 

His last 5 years with Boston, he was 17-18 with a 4.16ERA and turned 35 this year.  

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

If that's the case, I'd rather hold onto him. Good glove, RHB. More upside to keeping him. I don't see much trade value. 

Exactly.  It's possible that at some point the Sox will decide he must go, but we are nowhere near that yet.  

And let's not forget that Mayer is no model of fitness/wellness.  

Let's also not forget that there are two middle infield positions to fill next year.  I've beat up on Grissom endlessly, but he too should be a candidate/option.  

When Story was lost for another season, he was no longer a future core player, but the regular version of Sale (in Boston). Mayer would take over at short in 2025 and the sustained contending would commence... except now, MM looks just as injury-prone. 

Story stays, and plays -- and as a good guy and respected vet -- helps middle infield prospects like Mayer and Campbell transition into mainstays. Breslow and Cora might value his leadership enough to keep him around for those overall contributions (notice how Trevor sits right next to Alex in the dugout at all the games).

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

When Story was lost for another season, he was no longer a future core player, but the regular version of Sale (in Boston). Mayer would take over at short in 2025 and the sustained contending would commence... except now, MM looks just as injury-prone. 

Story stays, and plays -- and as a good guy and respected vet -- helps middle infield prospects like Mayer and Campbell transition into mainstays. Breslow and Cora might value his leadership enough to keep him around for those overall contributions (notice how Trevor sits right next to Alex in the dugout at all the games).

Maybe, our best hope id they alternate time on the IL, and never are hurt, at the same time.

As I have said many times that these kind of things tend to work themselves out. It would be good to see Story Land stay open all year, and not down for maintenance, but even then no one knows what he has left anymore. His glove will still work, but his bat will be 4 years older now since we signed him come next year.

On 8/30/2024 at 9:03 AM, Bellhorn04 said:

Am I the only one who thinks a lot of injuries are just crap luck?  Hell, even Mookie has had multiple injuries with the Dodgers.  

Obviously, some players have the dreaded "recurring" injury to the same body part. 

Vaughn Grissom had a recurring hamstring injury this year.  Should we write him off? 

Maybe we could have a thread on the whole concept of "injury-prone".  

 

You are dead right, of course.  That also shoots big holes in all my ranting and raving about Breslow dumping Sale and signing Giolito.  Sale was injured, first with the elbow in 2019 and subsequent tommy john, then by a vicious bicycle.  Plus one other injury.  But then, guess what?  He freaking recovered.  And, because of the tommy john, his arm was younger than the 35 years of the rest of him.  His last 3 starts in 2023 were pretty good.  

I think Mookie is prototypical of the kind of player who can avoid injuries, but that pitch nailed him and that was it.  Story, on the other hand, was just diving for a grounder.  And Casas was just swinging at a pitch.  But now Casas is swinging again and swinging pretty well.  Story is a story worth following--this season.  

Many injuries seem like bad luck, although some players just seem to be injury prone- maybe due to some physical weakness, poor conditioning, genetics or recklessness. It's hard to know which is which, sometimes.

Many predicted injury to Sale, but then some of his seemed fluky. Suddenly, he's Mr. Reliable.

A guy like Gio looked pretty durable and dependable, then poof.

I will say, I do not think the Sox have had any more "unexpected" injuries than the norm. We've signed guys like Richards, Kluber, Wacha, Hill, Paxton and Hill. We extended Sale, knowing he had something going on. We kept Whitlock starting, while many of us saw the warning signs. 

One could argue, we got what we paid for and got what was expected, except for maybe Gio.

When you look at a team like the Astros, who had 5 homegrown SP'ers, at one point last year, and have seen 4-5 of their top 6 SP'ers out injured all or most of 2024, we can see that we have been woefully outmatched in building reliable and competent pitching staffs, since 2018.

To me, it started in 2019, when we failed to replace the departing Kimbrell and Kelly. Teh, we lost Porcello. We lost Sale to injury, almost every year and for almost the whole season. We lost ERod to Covid, Nate to several injuries and never replace Price, either. We got what was expected, IMO.