MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam touched on an assortment of Red Sox topics in the latest edition of their Fenway Rundown podcast, including a brief mention of Trevor Story’s status as the shortstop considers an opt-out clause in his contract. Cotillo believes “the Red Sox are pretty cautiously very optimistic that” Story will be staying with the team, and while’s plenty of grey area within that statement, it does offer some indication that Story is leaning towards declining his opt-out.
Story is owed $25MM in each of the next two seasons, plus there’s a $5MM buyout on his $25MM club option for the 2028 campaign. The Red Sox can override Story’s opt-out by guaranteeing that 2028 club option right now, but that doesn’t appear to be on the team’s radar, so the ball looks to be entirely in Story’s court. While Story’s .263/.308/.433 slash line and 25 homers over 654 plate appearances only translates to a 101 wRC+, his numbers were weighed down by a cold start to the season, as Story posted an .825 OPS over his final 429 PA.
Between this strong finish and a thin free agent shortstop market, there’s a case for Story to leave his $55MM guaranteed on the table and look for a bigger contract this winter. On the flip side, Story turns 33 next month, his defensive metrics were subpar, and the injury problems that plagued him in 2022-24 will be on the minds of front offices even though Story stayed pretty healthy in 2025. If Story wants to avoid the risks of another prolonged stint in free agency, staying in Boston with a contending Red Sox team certainly seems like a viable choice.
More from around the AL East…
- Earlier this month, Jon Heyman of the New York Post floated Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty as a logical candidate to be part of the Orioles’ managerial search. MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports that Flaherty did indeed interview with the O’s about the position before the club opted to hire Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz. Any number of other names might’ve been considered by the Orioles, but Flaherty joins Albert Pujols, Luis Rojas, and Scott Servais as the candidates directly linked to Baltimore’s search whether in formal interviews or (in Servais’ case) just some interest on the club’s part. Flaherty’s six seasons as an Orioles player likely held some extra appeal for Baltimore’s front office, but his well-regarded work as a bench coach in Chicago and San Diego has put him in the running for multiple managerial vacancies. Flaherty is reportedly one of the finalists for the Twins’ job, and he is a candidate for both the Padres and Braves in their ongoing searches.
- The Rays hold a pair of club options on Brandon Lowe ($11.5MM) and Pete Fairbanks ($11MM) for the 2026 season, and both players have expressed a desire to remain in Tampa. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times explores the option decisions, noting that between the team’s offensive needs and how “the Rays typically view the bullpen as more changeable and volatile on a year-to-year basis,” Lowe seems more likely than Fairbanks to be part of the 2026 roster. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Fairbanks’ option will be declined, however, as the Rays would then lose the closer for nothing in free agency. Perhaps the most probable scenario is that Tampa Bay will pick up both options and then explore trade possibilities for either player — in Fairbanks’ case, his $11MM salary might not seem that onerous to some rival clubs in need of high-leverage bullpen help.
Picking up Fairbanks option could be a costly mistake for Tampa Bay. They might wind up getting stuck with him. Yeah, I’m not exactly his biggest fan. We know B Lowe has an extensive injury history, but at least they know what they are getting. Perhaps they could talk him into an extension over a longer period of time with a lower annual hit to those shallow Tampa Bay coffers. If he wants to stay in Tampa Bay perhaps B Lowe would be amenable to something of that nature. Perhaps as a future coach or in the front office too.
At 1/11M for a great RP and proven closer (20+ saves last 3 seasons) in a market with Diaz, Iglesias, Devin Williams, and even Ryan Helsley going to get paid, to varying degrees. Williams/Helsley may take pillow deals, but I doubt for lower than 1/11M. I’d see them picking up the option and trading him, where he’s been linked to ATL (Iglesias is a FA).
I don’t foresee another TB contract decline and ATL swooping in, like what happened with Morton years ago.
Its got Dodgers written all over it for Landon Knack and another arm
Picking up Fairbanks’ option is a pretty easy Rays’ decision as he has some trade value at 1/11. If the Rays include some cash, the return would be even better.
“pretty cautiously very optimistic”
Jazz for Lowe. What team says No and why??
Why do you keep wanting to trade Jazz?
Tampa says no as Lowe has in my view MUCH more value. Jazz has warts to go with his talent and if I was building a team, I’d pass on him.
It’s the other way around. Jazz (4.2 WAR) just had a 30-30 season and played above average defense. Lowe’s (1.8) BB and K rates are trending backwards. For all his “warts”, there isn’t a single GM which would pick Lowe over Jazz when their ’26 salaries will be very similar.
They both have injury risk as Jazz seems to miss 20 or 30 games every season. Jazz is also a spazz on the basepaths and tends to want to make heroic defensive plays when he should just eat it. He’s a superb athlete but his baseball IQ is not the highest. I think Yanks will keep him for ’26 but then move on, if a trade doesn’t materialize.
Jazz’ baserunning run value is in the 86th percentile against Lowe’s 31st. Low baseball IQ or not, I’ll also take the player with far greater defensive range. Can’t be in the position to make a “heroic” play if you can’t reach the batted ball first.
Cautiously optimistic, very pretty describes my better half.
I wish every major league player worried more about playing well than making more money. They make millions either way, so why not care about being a good ballplayer? Between fancy leagues, analytics, agents, free agency, ridiculous spending franchises, the game of baseball is almost unrecognizable. And pushing gambling? There’s a good idea, what could possibly go wrong?
Let’s go Blue Jays!
Tell us more about the old days, grandpa!
It all started to go downhill when they banned to spit ball.
What do you think Jason Varitek told his agent, Scott Boras? Get it done, I’m staying right here. That wasn’t that long ago but maybe you weren’t born yet.
Varitek did that was 20 years ago so yes it was a long time ago and the get it done price pretty much in line with what he would have gotten on the FA market too.
I seem to recall Judge turning down a bigger deal with SF to stay in NY. Sometimes money isn’t everything.
That said, money is also respect. Look at the entire Red Sox saga with Bogaerts and Devers. The Red Sox badly lowballed Bogaerts when they tried to extend him and that made a rift. It was disrespectful, especially in light of the contract he eventually signed. Boston then turned around and extended Devers for more than he was worth. The idea there was in light of Bogaerts, the trading of Betts, and a few other moves they needed to do something that said they respected their homegrown talent.
Of course, we’re now getting into the millionaires v. billionaires fight which no fan enjoys.
So because one player twenty years ago decided he didn’t want the hassle of moving his stuff all baseball players today… wait no I’m completely lost.
Also the Red Sox made Tek feel special by giving him that little “C” for his jersey. More teams should try to bribe guys with letters.
Don’t forget Sox ownership disrespecting players started with Jon Lester. At the time, I thought they were fair but in hindsight, they blew it. That said, Mookie was never coming back and the offer to Bogey wasn’t as bad as you say. The Padres bid against themselves and overpaid big time.
Better to be disrespectful to Bogaerts than to end up signing him to that ridiculous contract the Padres gave him.
It seems like most people have no idea how mid Bogaerts is now.
The ovbious sign of not being greedy and not caring about the money: having Scott Boras as your agent.
I kind of feel like playing well directly correlates to making money.
I think if you look at it from the players perspective they are forced to treat thier time in mlb as a job with a very short shelf life as fans its easy for us to tell them not to care about trying to make every last dollar they can before its over…but to them its thier life and I for one dont blame them for making as much as they can while they can because sure wise investments can make it last but money up front is guaranteed
I’m gonna go join me a fancy league.
I fantasize about fancy leagues
The big question for Story is not whether he can make more than the $55 million. With his skills and the lack of quality shortstops, SOMEONE would clearly give him more than 55 million over 4-5 years. The real question is what kind of deal he would be able to get two years from now when he is 35. Let’s say someone was willing to give him a 4/80 contract this offseason. Then his decision would be could he beat 2/25 two years from now. If he thinks he can do better than that in 2027, then he should not opt out and just take his chances then..
My gut is pretty cautiously very pessimistic in Story’s ability to stay semi-healthy next year.
Story is staying
OK, so someone help me out with this, since I don’t follow the Red Sox as closely as I used to: didn’t Rafaela come up as a SS? Can’t they move on from Story and put Rafaela at SS which would solve the outfield situation?
Rafaela’s time at SS in the majors has been poor (-7 OAA at SS last season and a -2 DRS) but was absolutely elite in CF this season (20 DRS, 21 OAA, 22 defensive run value)
His bat isn’t anything special, so that glove in center is the only reason to keep him around as a starter. He’d be a potentially below average defender and bat at short.
Thanks…wasn’t sure.
He’s also not a finished product with his bat when you compare his ’24 and ’25 Savant stats. Moving him back to SS from CF doesn’t make sense.
@FatChance65 They can’t move on from Story if he doesn’t opt-out.
Is Story is any kind of a mensch he won’t opt out because he knows he owes the Red Sox big time for the seasons (if you add it all up) he’s spent on the injured list.
If Story stays they should seriously consider moving him to 2b and give Meyer a proper shot at short.