Trevor Story’s Salary Can’t Keep Writing the Lineup.
Boston owes Story a fair shot—not a guaranteed job—as its middle-infield choices come into focus.
Jim Dalfino
The Red Sox should arrive at spring training with a shortstop competition, not a payroll ceremony.
Trevor Story deserves a chance to win the job. His contract does not deserve a locker, a uniform, and an automatic place in the batting order. If the accounting department could hit a slider, Boston would have solved a few problems years ago.
That is the distinction this offseason needs: respect the player, evaluate the production, and stop treating money already committed as a baseball argument.
Story is owed $25 million in 2027, the final guaranteed year of his deal, according to the Globe’s offseason assessment. That same report identifies Curtis Mead and Franklin Arias as the other central pieces in Boston’s unsettled middle infield.
There is the discussion. Who gives this team the best combination of offense, defense, availability, and room to improve?
“Well, we’re paying him” is an explanation for a direct deposit. It is a terrible explanation for a lineup.
MLB lists Story’s 2026 average at .235, with five homers and a .622 OPS. Those numbers do not make a compelling case for immunity from competition.
They also do not justify turning him into a cartoon villain. Injuries are not a character flaw. Nobody needs to spend the winter yelling at a hamstring.
And the fair version of this argument includes 2025: Story played 157 games, hit 25 homers, drove in 96 runs, and stole 31 bases. There is a productive player in the recent record. The question is how much Boston can reasonably count on getting back.
The Globe reports that Arias hit 25 home runs in the upper minors in 2026 and finished with 42 games at Triple-A. That is a reason to pay attention. It is not a reason to order his Cooperstown plaque with expedited shipping.
My…
