Colorado Rockies trade rumors: The San Francisco Giants are “interested” in Trevor Story

Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported on Wednesday that the market for Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story has “become more active in the last 24 hours.” Additionally, the San Francisco Giants are one of the teams now interested in Trevor Story as well.

On the surface, Colorado Rockies fans may be surprised that the San Francisco Giants are interested but they are likely interested in Trevor Story for a few reasons.

Injuries are a big factor in why the San Francisco Giants are interested in Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story

Currently, veteran San Francisco Giants shortstop and third baseman Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria are having great years. They both have an OPS+ north of 140 (or 40 percent above league average) but they are both on the injured list.

Longoria, 35, has been out since early June with a sprained shoulder. The Giants moved Longoria to the 60-day IL last week, meaning that, at the earliest, he can return in early August. However, since there has been no update on him in weeks, he will likely be out longer than that.

Crawford has been out for about a week and a half now with a strained oblique and, as our colleagues over at Around The Foghorn reported, Crawford has just resumed baseball activities. He still could be out for a few weeks with the injury.

So if the Giants acquired Story, they could use him as their starting shortstop in the interim and then move him to third base when Crawford returns since he, seemingly, is going to return before Longoria.

In the event that Crawford and Longoria both return from the IL and the Giants acquire Story, they could easily use Story at second base.

Currently, the Giants everyday second baseman is Donovan Solano. Solano, 33, had a career year with the Giants last year as he won a Silver Slugger Award but he has regressed significantly in 2021. Overall, he has seen his OPS+ drop from 125 to 84. That has dropped so much because his slugging percentage has dropped more than 110 points from 2020. It has been even worse in July as his slugging percentage is .282 in the month.

The biggest problem the Rockies will have to overcome is that they’d be trading him in the division to the Giants but, on the other hand, if the Giants have the best offer for Story and it’s not particularly close, it should be a deal that the Rockies should heavily consider.

As Morosi also noted, the Giants could decide to turn to Chicago Cubs third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant as well. He would provide them with a track record of versatility in both the infield and the outfield, which Trevor Story doesn’t have.