Over the course of the past decade, when lists of the top shortstops get brought up, Trevor Story always finds his way in the conversation. And it’s fair to assume why. Offensively, he’s been great, being a borderline 30-100 guy when taking a 162-game average. Given his recent tenure in Boston, though, it seems as though the long leash he once had is getting shorter. And with recent developments, there’s a chance his time with the Red Sox might expire soon.
Trevor Story’s Time in Boston
After leaving the Colorado Rockies in free agency, Story signed with Boston in 2022, just before the season started. When signing him, there were strikeout concerns, seeing as he struck out over 150 times in three of his six seasons with the Rockies. But the power and speed combination was too good to pass up on. That offseason, they lost Hunter Renfroe and Kyle Schwarber, who hit a combined 38 homers and drove in 114 runs. Story was coming off a down year where he hit .251, but he also had 24 homers, 75 RBIs, and 20 stolen bases. The contract length seemed a little steep at the time, at six years, 140 million, but the talent was there. They also needed a middle infielder on the other side of Xander Bogaerts.
Story did okay in his first year, hitting 16 homers and driving in 66 RBIs, but he only played 94 games. In fact, for the first half of his contract, health was a major concern. From 2022-2024, he played 163 games combined. At a little over 23 million a year, this was shaping up to be a really bad contract. Then came 2025. Story put in nearly a full season’s worth of work, playing 157 games. In those games, he was one of the best hitters on the team. Despite a slow start, he finished with 25 homers, 96 RBIs, and 31 stolen bases. The stolen bases total was a career high for him.
Trevor Story is pissed. Here are a couple of quotes from his media session today:
“Some of the best coaches in the world didn’t get a fair shot.”
“It’s up in the air what the true direction of the franchise is.” pic.twitter.com/GGhh2v9KTe
— Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) April 26, 2026
Negatives
Despite the success, there were some downsides last year. He struck out 176 times, most on the Red Sox in 2025, as well as 16th in all of baseball. And while Boston acquired him for help on the offensive end, defensively, he was hard to watch. Even though he had a good fielding percentage of .970, he was tied for the most errors in the American League at 19. 2026 hasn’t been any better for him. Through 28 games, he’s committed four errors already and has a fielding percentage of .962. Offensively, he hasn’t done much better. Despite having 17 RBIs, he’s hitting .197 and has struck out 40 times compared to seven walks. Not a great start this year, and recent news might lead to a departure soon.
Story’s Role in the Alex Cora Firing
Last Saturday, the Red Sox organization was turned upside down, as 2018 World Series-winning manager Alex Cora and his staff were suddenly fired. Now, reportedly, the move was planned a couple of days before it happened, but it officially became news on Saturday. Many players on the Red Sox were vocal about the news, such as Garrett Whitlock and Roman Anthony. However, Story appeared to voice his frustrations the most. He claimed that the coaching staff didn’t get a fair shot this year and also questioned what direction the franchise was going in. Soon after, he demanded to speak with CBO Craig Breslow, claiming the explanation the players received wasn’t up to standards. Breslow later confirmed that he and Story discussed it privately and overcame the issue. However, there’s an important piece of the puzzle missing.
Per Julian McWilliams of CBS Sports, some within the organization believed Story was past his prime and that his great 2025 season was a fluke. They even thought former utility infielder David Hamilton was a more valuable asset than Story was. Given his time in Boston so far, that statement is a little tricky. On one hand, due to his health concerns, there’s no guarantee he has a season where he plays that much again. However, if he does stay healthy, those are pretty respectable numbers that a player of his caliber could put up, especially with a slow start.
2026 Concerns
The frustrations with Story and Cora continued into this season, with Cora regularly placing the shortstop as the second hitter in the lineup. There’s been a ton of problems with the lineup construction this season, but Story at two was a pretty bad one. Splits show that as the second guy up, Story has hit .119 with 17 strikeouts thus far. The lower he goes in the lineup (particularly sixth), the better he hits.
Possible Replacements
Now, even though the talent is there, Story is on the older side; arguably, his play’s declining (as of now), and his contract’s a little big. So the two-part question is: will he get moved, and who can replace him? The first part is a little up in the air right now. Among this young team, he’s currently seen as one of the leaders. But if the production is going down, it might be best to move on. However, there’s a long line of replacements waiting.
Marcelo Mayer was drafted in 2021, specifically drafted as a shortstop. Since coming up last season, he’s played two games at shortstop in his 71 career games. From 2021-2025, across the Red Sox minor league organization, he played a total of 269 games at short. Despite not playing it much in the majors, that does seem like his natural position. In addition to Mayer, there’s Franklin Arias in Double-A Portland, who’s currently tearing it up. Mikey Romero also has some experience at shortstop, although he’s more versatile across the infield. This isn’t even counting the utility guys at the current major league level, such as Andruw Monasterio. There are plenty of guys in the system right now to take over.
The Last Word
So, despite all this drama with Story, will he actually get traded? He may be. If the rumors of how the organization feels about him are true, they might try to pawn his contract off to give more opportunities to the younger guys. However, while guys like Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Willson Contreras have been in baseball a while, they’re new on the Red Sox. So getting rid of Story would be getting rid of the veteran leader on the team. While it might not be smart from a clubhouse standpoint to move on currently, it’s certainly a possibility to explore as soon as the trade deadline if he continues at this pace.
Main Photo Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
