Trevor Story era in Boston coming to an end?
The veteran shortstop found himself on the bench both games Marcelo Mayer was in the lineup.
by Terry Cushman Jr
Just before the start of the 2022 MLB season began, Trevor Story signed a six year deal with the Boston Red Sox worth $140M dollars.
In the years 2022, 2023, and 2024, the longtime Colorado Rockie played in only a combined 163 games, and missed a jaw dropping 323 games.
Thanks Chaim.
Expectations for 2025 centered around a skepticism on whether the trajectory of his injuries would continue.
The good news is that the aforementioned trajectory has trended downward. The horrifying news, is that his offensive metrics are trending even more sharply downward.
In the month of May:
.156 BA
.198 OBP
.406 OPS
One 2B
One HR
Special Bonus: -3 defensive runs saved
Across all 49 games he has played this season, Story only has a 60 WRC+ and a 69 OPS+.
Adding to the agony of his decline, Red Sox manager Alex Cora has stubbornly slotted him into the 5th or 6th hole on the lineup.
When heart of the order guys like Devers and Bregman have reached base, Story has been far less adequate in putting the ball in play, and sending those runners home.
In a way, straight up sabotaging chances to win crucial baseball games.
Finally, against the Orioles this weekend, the beleaguered Red Sox short stop only hit 1/11 against their 28th MLB ranked starting pitching rotation.
Some of us on the podcast have questioned at what point would it be appropriate to pinch hit Story in a late inning high leverage spot?
That exact situation finally came in the 7th inning of the second game during Saturday’s double header. Alex Cora elected to go with Wilyer Abreu. Story was saved any further embarrassment by being benched in the series finale.
The notable aspect of his benching was that Alex Bregman was placed on the 10 day injured list. And despite Marcelo Mayer playing third base both games after being called up for his long awaited debut, Alex Cora still preferred David Hamilton and Nick Sogard in filling up the rest of the infield.
Cora and the Red Sox roster seemed to be feeling a lot of pressure in Sunday’s post game interviews. They are one game under .500, six and a half games back from the AL East leading Yankees, and two and a half games back of the final wildcard.
If the Red Sox are going to get serious about winning baseball games with more consistency, they must realize that the most costly asset from the Chaim Bloom era is now playing an even more costly role in keeping this storied (no pun intended) franchise out of the post season for a fourth straight year.
And perhaps they do.