I’m just as frustrated as you likely are about the Yankees sitting on the sidelines during this recent free agent frenzy. Nearly all of the top shortstops are now off the board, with Corey Seager and Marcus Semien going to Texas and Javier Báez off to Detroit. The top starting pitchers are gone too. And yet, there are still two big name shortstops out there for the Yankees to grab: Carlos Correa and the subject of today’s post, Trevor Story.
Now, am I confident that the Yankees actually play at the top of the market for Story (or Correa)? Not very at the moment. In spite of Brian Cashman telegraphing the team’s intent to spend and address the shortstop position, reports have now trickled out over the last couple of weeks that the Yankees are more likely to go the stopgap route. I hope that’s not true given Correa and Story’s availability. Nonetheless, I’m having a hard time giving the Yankees the benefit of the doubt given recent seasons’ behavior.
Still, until the ink dries on a new contract, the Yankees are not necessarily out on Story. We already know there’s interest in the shortstop — the team wanted to trade for him at the deadline and Jaime profiled him then — but the Rockies tripped all over themselves instead. Colorado will get some compensation once he signs elsewhere because Story rejected the qualifying offer, but perhaps a deadline deal would have suited them better. Anyway, that time has come and gone, so let’s turn to Story’s free agency outlook.