A surprising team is interested in former Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story

There are a few teams that are interested (or should be interested) in former Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story. In fact, on Sunday, we looked at the top five places that Story is most likely to land this offseason. But one team that was not mentioned in that is the Boston Red Sox and for good reason.

On the surface, you would think that the Boston Red Sox would not be interested in Story because they already have a good shortstop in Xander Bogaerts. He hit 23 homers, had 79 RBI, and hit .295/.370/.493 with an OPS+ of 127 for the Red Sox in 2021. He was an All-Star, won a Silver Slugger Award, and came in 12th in AL MVP voting.

But the Boston Red Sox are interested in Trevor Story both for his bat and for his defense and that defense could make him the regular shortstop and make a move for Bogaerts necessary.

The Boston Red Sox could sign Trevor Story to play shortstop and move Xander Bogaerts to a different position

The Boston Red Sox have shown interest in former Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network and Audacy. Heyman said this about Story on the “Big Time Baseball” podcast about the link with Boston (and a few other teams that he has heard about).

“Story, I have heard three teams — Seattle, Houston, and Boston,” said Heyman. “So it would be interesting to see with Boston. Obviously, he could start out at second base potentially, and we’ll see what goes on from there.”

As Joon Lee of ESPN reported back in October, Xander Bogaerts has said that he is open to moving to a different position (likely either third or second) in the future.

Defensively, Story is the far superior shortstop. Since 2016, Bogaerts has -46 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), which is an average of about -8 DRS per season. In that same span, Story has 69 DRS, or an average of 10 DRS per season.

Offensively, since 2018, Bogaerts has hit .299/.371/.523 and an OPS+ of 133 with a 162-game average of 30 homers and 108 RBI. For Story since 2018, he has hit .281/.348/.532 and an OPS+ of 118 with a 162-game average of 34 homers and 95 RBI.

Kiké Hernandez is the Red Sox primary second baseman right now and as good as he has been for the Red Sox, he is more of a super-utility guy. The Red Sox don’t have a clear-cut left fielder so he could be the everyday left fielder or be a super-utility guy.

For the Boston Red Sox, an infield that would have Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, and Trevor Story would be quite an infield if their interest turns into an offer or signing after the lockout. It could be a good enough infield to get them over the hump to win the AL East.