Why signing Trevor Storey would ultimately be a win for the Red Sox appeared in the original NBC Sports Boston
Someday, the Red Sox will be good again, and not just in the way they fight for the last wild card.
When that day comes, don’t be surprised if Trevor Story is in the middle of it.
The shortstop remains the biggest free agent acquisition of the Chaim Bloom Era, and it’s hard to call his six-year, $140 million deal anything but bankrupt right now. Story hit .238 last year at second base before a broken wrist effectively ended his season in July.
Then came off-season elbow surgery to address his throwing issues that eased a move away from shortstop out of respect for Xander Bogaerts, and suddenly his contract looked pretty awful.
But after months of rehab, Storey is finally back, showing why he was worth pursuing in the first place.
In addition to playing errorless shortstop, he hit . 368 in five games. Since starting 0-for-9, he went 7-for-10 with four doubles. The Red Sox are 4-1 with Story in the lineup, and As much as I hate the argument that injured players can be acquisitions at the trade deadlineIt’s fair to say Story could end up being the most influential hitter to join the pennant race in August.
Whether this translates into an actual interval boost isn’t really the point. The Red Sox continue to build what they hope will be their next great team, and Story has a lot to offer and a few weeks to remind us why he’s an essential part of the future.
An All-Star and Gold finalist in Colorado, Storey might just be the best pure athlete on the list, and that includes the most physically impressive player, Jaren Duran. Everything about Game Story is seamless, from the way he attacks balls on the field to his deceptively quick running of the bases. Baseball exudes sports.
In the first story rematch against the Royals, he tripped the edge of the grass to jump a playmaker off Bobby Witt heading into the hole, looked the runner back to third, then Quick Witt easily cleared from his knees with a jab across the diamond. The play demonstrated the story’s instincts, awareness, ingenuity, and subtlety, all within two seconds. Anyone worried about arm strength after modified Tommy John surgery can breathe easy, too.
The story is short with a high IQ. An easily forgotten play from last season explained that when he sent a kicker off Ji-Man Choi to his right, tried to race Wander Franco to the second base bag, and knew he was going to lose, Instead, he made a dart to launch the first volley which was unfortunately knocked down by Franchie CorderoBecause there was a lot of that last year.
Nobody was wrong about losing a kick to Franco by a half-step, but Storey calculated a split second that he should be out on first, because he has what basketball players call court awareness.
“Anyone else, and I would have tried a second time,” Storey said last year. “But I knew who was running for me and I didn’t think I’d get there.”
This is a winning play, even if it’s not technically out of the game, and the Red Sox will need more of that to set an example in the years to come as their roster should get younger with the arrival of Sedan Rafaela and eventually Marcelo Meyer, among others. . While temporary veterans like Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen, and Kiki Hernandez will come and go, Story has to stay here for the long haul, and that’s a good thing.
He’ll always hit a lot, especially when he falls into the cracks that struggle to spot the Sliders away, but he makes up with strength, and a successful final couple of months could help convince Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom that it’s okay to spend on right-handed players in free agency.
Up to this point, his story has been rated more of a cautionary tale, but if his arm troubles are truly behind him, there’s still plenty of time for him to make his mark in a Red Sox uniform.