The Boston Red Sox had originally signed Trevor Story in 2022 to a huge contract: six years, worth $140M. The timetable was pretty awkward, as it showed that Xander Bogaerts was spending his last season in Boston, and his replacement was playing next door to him at second for the 2022 season.
When Bogaerts left, Story expectedly took over responsibilities at shortstop...when he was healthy. Since his signing, he's been an injury-riddled mess, playing only one season's worth of games in the past three (163 games played up to 2024). However, once 2025 came around, he joined Wilyer Abreu as one of the hottest Red Sox players with the stick to start the season.
Things have looked pretty good, but also very inconsistent on his part. While Story was consistent in Colorado, especially from 2018-2020, he was always a strikeout king. Since his rookie season in 2016, he has struck out 1075 times. He even led the NL in strikeouts in 2017 with 191.
With that, he leads the team in that category in 2025 with 107 strikeouts so far this season. But when he's on, he goes through stretches where he goes 3-of-4 almost every game. He batted .278 in April, but then had a horrific slump throughout May, batting .158 with 35 strikeouts. Since that slump, he's been batting .336, slugging eight HRs, 32 RBIs, an OPS of .959, 43 hits, nine doubles, eight stolen bases, and 76 total bases in 33 games. So for about a month or so, he's been killing the baseball. He's also 14/14 in stolen base attempts and is leading baseball in that stolen base percentage category.
No one knows if Story will be this good again, and this could very well be a flash in the pan before the regression. He's been one of the best shortstops in baseball as of late, especially in July, and the Red Sox cannot pass this opportunity up. If the Red Sox's 10-game winning streak becomes invalidated by the end of this month, Story could be traded, allowing Marcelo Mayer to take the shortstop position full-time.
He could go to the likes of the Brewers or even the Rays, for that matter, as both teams need some power in their lineup. Story has good value, but will either of these teams be willing to take on his contract? Sounds like Breslow would have to be smart about this...and possibly could call a third team to get this deal done.