Trevor Story rumors: Have the Yankees fallen “out of love with Story?”

Are the New York Yankees no longer a potential landing spot for Colorado Rockies All-Star shortstop Trevor Story? According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, it certainly sounds like it.

In an article published on Saturday where Sherman breaks down what it will potentially take for the Yankees to elevate their play at shortstop, the writer drops an interesting line about Story in the midst of discussing some other shortstops who may be available this offseason.

The Yankees made a July trade-deadline push for Baez. But I think they saw him as a short-term answer for their defensive nightmare at shortstop. The hatred for the 2017 Astros sign-stealing scandal still pulses in the Yankees’ organization — within which many harbor the belief that if Houston had not cheated, the Yanks would have won it all. So, I just can’t believe they would swallow that to sign Correa. There seems to have been a steady falling out of love with Story. I believe if the Yankees were going to play big for a shortstop, it would be Seager or Semien.

Now there’s a lot to chew on in that paragraph, of course. Sherman seems to break down New York’s choices for shortstop to the lesser of the evils that are out there. Carlos Correa, in Sherman’s mind, seems tainted in what has become a bitter rivalry between the Astros and Yankees.

And then there’s Story.

Have the New York Yankees taken a step back in their admiration of the skills possessed by Colorado Rockies All-Star shortstop Trevor Story?

Yes, the soon-to-be-29-year-old Story did have a down year in 2021, finishing with an OPS+ of 103, his lowest number since 2017. He also dealt with an elbow injury suffered in late May and finished the season with a career-high 14 errors. There were also moments to remember, including Story being a member of the 20 home run/20 stolen base club for the third time in the last three full seasons (not including the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign).

Sherman believes that Corey Seager and Marcus Semien are better fits for the Yankees than Story. Later in the article, he goes on to talk about Seager’s experience in the postseason with the Los Angeles Dodgers and makes the connection that he could potentially be the missing piece at shortstop for the Yankees.

But there is no real discussion about why the Yankees had a “steady falling out of love with Story” other than the brief mention of it. Certainly Story is part of what is expected to be a very deep and talented pool of free agent shortstops and, if the Yankees are no longer interested, it’s not a far jump to believe there are plenty of other teams who would be happy to have Story’s services.

With the qualifying offer set at $18.4 million, it’s expected that the Rockies will offer that to Story and that he will reject it. That, of course, means that Story can find a team willing to pay him more. That team, however, may not be the Yankees.