Trevor Story rumors: Could Philadelphia Phillies be a destination?
Could the Philadelphia Phillies be a potential landing spot for All-Star shortstop Trevor Story now that his contract with the Colorado Rockies has expired? Jon Heyman of MLB Network thinks it’s a possibility.
Here’s the rumor potentially linking the Philadelphia Phillies and Trevor Story
In a tweet on Friday morning, Heyman said that the Phillies “may play” for a “big” free agent shortstop. On Heyman’s list was Story, who just finished his sixth season with the Colorado Rockies, along with other members of what could well be a very talented shortstop free agent class such as Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Javier Baez, and Marcus Semien.
Interestingly, the Phillies still have shortstop Didi Gregorius under contract through the 2022 campaign. However, Heyman said in his tweet that “it’s no certainty” that the 31-year-old Gregorius stays as Philadelphia’s shortstop. Those words seemed to be echoed by Dave Dombrowski, Philadelphia’s president of baseball operations, during his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday.
Among Dombrowski’s quotes from that end-of-season press conference, including a big “if” about Gregorius…
“We’re in a position where we also are going to be open-minded to what’s going to take place at shortstop next year. It could be internal. It could be him if he comes back.”“We need to get better at shortstop. We need to, if it’s internally or externally, whatever it may be, we need to do that.”
Gregorius posted -0.8 bWAR in 2021, slashing just .209/.270/.370 with a 71 OPS+ as the Phillies finished 6.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.
Story has said that winning is important to him, as is the roster composition of any teams he would consider as his next home (if he doesn’t return to Colorado, which seems very unlikely). Do the Phillies have enough with Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler, J.T. Realmuto, and others to entice Story to come to Philadelphia?
There will be plenty of rumors linking Story to teams throughout the postseason and offseason. However, if the Phillies are looking to upgrade at shortstop, Story will likely be on the short list of candidates.