Red Sox infielder Trevor Story is beginning a rehab assignment today, with Ian Browne of MLB.com relaying the details. Story will play five innings at shortstop in Friday’s game before serving as the designated hitter on Saturday and returning to the shortstop position on Sunday.
The shortstop position in Boston has been in flux since it was reported in January that Story had undergone internal brace surgery on his right elbow. They’ve rotated various players through the position in his absence, including Enrique Hernández, Yu Chang, Pablo Reyes and others. The Red Sox have a collective .216/.272/.322 batting line from the position, which translates to a wRC+ of 59, placing them 27th out of the 30 clubs in the league.
Story is a career .268/.336/.513 hitter and would certainly be a boost if he could come back at that level, though it’s no guarantee that he will. He hit .251/.329/.471 in his final year in Colorado and then .238/.303/.434 last year. After missing all of this season so far, it remains to be seen what form he will be in when he gets back. The Sox are currently three games out of a playoff spot and even a diminished version of Story should be an upgrade over the production they’ve had from the shortstop position thus far.
Some more notes from the toughest division in the league…
- The Orioles placed outfielder Cedric Mullins on the injured list earlier this week due to a groin strain, his second trip to the IL this year for that injury. Just the day prior, he had said he was hoping to avoid the IL, which made it fair to expect this stint would be minimal. That may not be the case, however, with Mullins providing more details to the media yesterday. He said that new symptoms emerged once his soreness went away, per Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner, with no timeline for his return right now. He said he’s hopeful of returning for the back end of the season, per Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball. That murkier timeline is surely an unpleasant development for the O’s, as Mullins continue to be an impact player when healthy. He’s hit .259/.347/.454 this year for a wRC+ of 123 and stolen 14 bases. His progress in the weeks to come will hopefully provide some more clarity but it doesn’t seem like an immediate return is likely.
- Blue Jays reliever Chad Green is set to begin a rehab assignment on Saturday, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The Jays signed Green in the offseason to a convoluted deal, knowing that he wouldn’t be an option in the first half after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. He’s now rehabbing at an interesting time of the season, with the trade deadline just over the horizon. The righty has 272 appearances under his belt with a 3.17 ERA, 32.5% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate. All contending clubs are looking for relief help at this time of year but Green’s impending return gives the Jays a chance to have that bullpen boost come from within. They are currently 54-43 and tied with the Astros for the second Wild Card spot. Green’s return will also give the club a couple of months to evaluate his status before deciding on the layered option structure of his contract. They first have to decide on triggering a three-year, $27MM option with $1MM in bonuses. If they decline, Green can exercise a 2024 player option with a $6.25MM salary and $2MM in bonuses. If he declines that, the Jays can trigger a two-year, $21MM option with $1MM in bonuses.
Bummer about Mullins but Hicks has done a decent enough job
Hicks has been flat out good. Decent is an understatement.
Here’s a Story of a Chad named Cedric. He was smoking Green Mullins with Pablo Hernandez. Yu should have seen the sun Reyes that day.
Woops… Enrique Chang phoned officer Trevor and got them all atrested. The end.
Did you think this was funny? Did you think anyone else would? Why are there so many idiots on these boards?
> Did you think ??
> Did you think ??
> Why are there ??
YOU TELL ‘EM, ROY!!!!
Just out of curiosity, why does someone use the handle of a serial killer like Roy Demeo; someone who cut up and decapitated bodies, things that even other hardened gangsters were reluctant to do?..I’m asking for a friend, just in case you are a Demeo family member.
you know, more than one person has that name, right?
life – Just for the record, I’m the Original Fever Pitch Guy.
Ignore the Jimmy Fallon and Colin Firth movies, they were both loosely based on me.
Agree with Roy, that was terrible man straight up, Brendan Schaub type bad
I want to see Story make a throw from deep in the hole. That will tell us whether his future is at shortstop or second base.
But will he have another chance to do it again? (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)
My concern isn’t if he can play short in the near term. It is will playing short in the long term damage his arm again. They should just play him at 2nd where he is actually very good and spare his arm the wear and tear. Story at 2nd, Duran/Duval in CF fills 2 of the 3 holes up the middle that the Sox started the season with.
He’s not going to have to play SS long term, maybe the remainder of this season and beginning of next season before either Rafaela or Mayo is ready
Mayer is hitting 205 in Portland. Do really think he is up in 24?
Depending how he finishes this season and starts next year it’s not out of the question
Rsox – Agreed! I’ve still got my money on Mayer making his ML debut next July or August.
Rafaela’s first man up.
As for Mayer: If he follows the same trajectory to majors as Volpe, he would appear in 2025. — Maybe he gets a cup of tea in Sept 2024, but realistically he’s on target for ’25.
Ya, Raf is looking good. Agree on Mayer
The MLB seems to be more about hitting than fielding.If Hernandez or any of the people who have played short hit there would be not a big problem.Bring Story back.if he hits 30 homeruns,drives in 80 -100 runs and hits 40 doubles,does anybody really care if he can’t make the throw from deep short?
With the banning of the shift teams are going to have to place some sort of emphasis on defense because there aren’t 7 defenders on either side of the field at any given time anymore
That’s a joke in itself. The so-called banning of the shift hasn’t prevented a team having their SS or 2b man play up the middle as long as they’re on their own side of 2b. The only thing the shift ban has changed things is the second baseman can’t play in short right. Like the runner starting at 2b in extra inning, a total softball rule.
Get well soon, Cedric!
If Chad green comes back to even 75% of what he was, let’s say with a 5% walk rate, 28% strikeout rate and a 3.5 era, that is a huge boost to a bullpen that’s already pretty solid, Jay’s go after a guy like BarLow, that’s one of the best bullpens in baseball paired with the best defense, looking pretty good