Trevor Story has signed with the Boston Red Sox

Sin Duda

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I, as one fan, am glad he signed with the Red Sox. I give him the benefit of the doubt due to (a) signing a big free-agent contract, (b) changing leagues, (c) changing positions, (d) getting a late start to an already-shortened spring training. (e) celebrating the birth of his first child a few days into his spring training ... and there are probably a few more considerations. We know baseball, especially, is a sport where your mind and you body have to be right to play it at a high level. My only concern was that in the first few weeks, his fielding seemed to be off; I figured that was something more slump-proof. But he seems to have turned that around along with his hitting (at least to my eye). I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays through the first half now that he seems acclimated and the Fenway fans are responding to him. His swing does seem perfectly built for the park's dimensions.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I, as one fan, am glad he signed with the Red Sox. I give him the benefit of the doubt due to (a) signing a big free-agent contract, (b) changing leagues, (c) changing positions, (d) getting a late start to an already-shortened spring training. (e) celebrating the birth of his first child a few days into his spring training ... and there are probably a few more considerations. We know baseball, especially, is a sport where your mind and you body have to be right to play it at a high level. My only concern was that in the first few weeks, his fielding seemed to be off; I figured that was something more slump-proof. But he seems to have turned that around along with his hitting (at least to my eye). I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays through the first half now that he seems acclimated and the Fenway fans are responding to him. His swing does seem perfectly built for the park's dimensions.
There's been some rumbles that scouts think his arm is wonky at second, I haven't seen it but there's some chatter about it. He's not Pedroia in the field but then again I'm not expecting him to be that. He's not here for his fielding, although it's fine.
 

cornwalls@6

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I, as one fan, am glad he signed with the Red Sox. I give him the benefit of the doubt due to (a) signing a big free-agent contract, (b) changing leagues, (c) changing positions, (d) getting a late start to an already-shortened spring training. (e) celebrating the birth of his first child a few days into his spring training ... and there are probably a few more considerations. We know baseball, especially, is a sport where your mind and you body have to be right to play it at a high level. My only concern was that in the first few weeks, his fielding seemed to be off; I figured that was something more slump-proof. But he seems to have turned that around along with his hitting (at least to my eye). I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays through the first half now that he seems acclimated and the Fenway fans are responding to him. His swing does seem perfectly built for the park's dimensions.
No dude, none of that matters. Every good free agent signing ever came out right of the box on fire with their new team. They're not humans, they don't have concerns or adjustments to make in their lives away from baseball. C'mon, you know this.
 

chawson

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I'm sorry, but when you sign a guy for $160 million you expect him to be able to contribute right away. That's the way these things work. And this wasn't "oh he's not untracked yet but he's still OPSing .700," this was OPSing .561, striking out 4 times and game, costing them a game in Tampa with a silly throwing error and getting the shit booed out of him at home because he wasn't doing anything at all.

I empathize with the real-life struggles of having a new baby but he was an absolute anchor on the team and they may not make the postseason in large part because their big free agent acquisition couldn't get it together until a quarter of the season had passed. That's not acceptable. It wasn't acceptable for Crawford or Panda either. It sounds unfair but that's reality for a guy getting paid to be an impact player: he has to produce right away. I'm absolutely stunned anyone would feel differently.

And fantastical or not he started hitting after he visited home. I don't make the rules here, it's what happened.
I agree that it's bad to be bad at baseball in April. I'm not happy that Story was bad for the Red Sox. All I've been arguing is that the conspiracy theories about why he played badly are ridiculous. Namely, that he secretly pines for Texas, that he's a Coors Field mirage, or anything else that suggests his April play was his true talent level.

I've been saying he'll be fine and that people shouldn't freak out and boo him (which again, makes me so embarrassed to be a Red Sox fan). And of course he's fine.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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No dude, none of that matters. Every good free agent signing ever came out right of the box on fire with their new team. They're not humans, they don't have concerns or adjustments to make in their lives away from baseball. C'mon, you know this.
Again, every FA that has signed here and struggled at the start has taken immense criticism for it. Lugo, Drew, Panda, Crawford, Lackey etc. Story is no different. I don't think he'd expect it to be any different. If he wanted his struggled to be ignored there were plenty of other teams he could have tried to join.
 

chawson

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Again, every FA that has signed here and struggled at the start has taken immense criticism for it. Lugo, Drew, Panda, Crawford, Lackey etc. Story is no different. I don't think he'd expect it to be any different. If he wanted his struggled to be ignored there were plenty of other teams he could have tried to join.
And yet he signed here! Curious.
 

cornwalls@6

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Again, every FA that has signed here and struggled at the start has taken immense criticism for it. Lugo, Drew, Panda, Crawford, Lackey etc. Story is no different. I don't think he'd expect it to be any different. If he wanted his struggled to be ignored there were plenty of other teams he could have tried to join.
That element of the fan base/media isn't the wagon I'd be hitching my argument to, but YMMV. And each of those signings needs to viewed in a vacuum, and two of them ended up being significant contributors to a World Series champion.
 

tims4wins

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2007 turned out to be a disappointment for Drew on that contract. 2008 was the real prize there.
The point is you don't judge a long term contract based on the first two months. You're the one who keeps saying the Dodgers did great with the Mookie signing despite him still having 10 years left.
 

chawson

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Meaning that he can deal with being booed and criticized for sucking for six weeks. That's the bargain. He knew that going in, particularly after the negotiations with the Rangers went belly up.
The Rangers signed Semien and Seager on Dec. 1, almost four months before the Sox signed Story on March 20. If it were true that Story was gripped by some feverish devotion to his dream of playing in Texas, that's plenty of time to get back to reality.
 

tims4wins

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Wait, is the argument now that Story doesn't like how the fans and media have treated him? Because I haven't seen that anywhere. This feels like goalpost moving.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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The point is you don't judge a long term contract based on the first two months. You're the one who keeps saying the Dodgers did great with the Mookie signing despite him still having 10 years left.
Sometimes you can and it's accurate (Crawford, Panda, Lugo among many others).

LA did great with the Mookie signing because he's still a superstar, is producing at a superstar level immediately and they've already won a WS with him. Of course that contract is a great one for them.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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The Rangers signed Semien and Seager on Dec. 1, almost four months before the Sox signed Story on March 20. If it were true that Story was gripped by some feverish devotion to his dream of playing in Texas, that's plenty of time to get back to reality.
They neogitated with him anyway even after those signings. Story wasn't making up the dream of going home to play, the Rangers tried to make it happen for him.
 

joe dokes

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So, if he rights the ship the rest of the way, and ends up with respectable, or even good numbers at season's end, it's still a disastrous signing? And an indicator that his entire tenure here is going to be a disappointment? After a bad 5-6 weeks, in year one, in a new city/league/environment? Nobody should be doing a victory lap just yet regarding his recent better play, for sure. But your position is equally reactionary and silly.
I'm not sure it matters where his "numbers end up." It's still early enough that a good showing the rest of the way *will* boost his overall numbers, but you can't undo what's been done. Where, as here, the season is not already lost, the *only* thing that matters is how he does from here on out.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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“Too late to salvage the season” seems absurd. They are like 4 games out of a playoff spot. With 120 or so games left!
3 games
They are in 4th place in the division and still below .500 even after a hot streak. Perhaps we should see if they manage to reach .500 first before even thinking about any type of postseason run. Maybe Story can make another trip home first.
with 3 wildcards, that can be OK

Definitely right about Franklin
 

joe dokes

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I'm sorry, but when you sign a guy for $160 million you expect him to be able to contribute right away. That's the way these things work. And this wasn't "oh he's not untracked yet but he's still OPSing .700," this was OPSing .561, striking out 4 times and game, costing them a game in Tampa with a silly throwing error and getting the shit booed out of him at home because he wasn't doing anything at all.
Yes you do expect that (or can, YMMV). But other than giving you (and others) the right to complain about how much he sucked for 6 weeks, so what? Does it mean the entire contract should be considered a failure? That they should Punto him? I dont think anyone anywhere will dispute that he was putrid. But, "yeah but he sucked for 6 weeks" doesn't seem like much of a response to "look how great he's doing now. This looks more like the guy they probably expected to get." It's a shitty slump, not some sort of permanent stain on his career. He's not Craig MacTavish being a contributor to a Stanley Cup team after killing someone.
 

cornwalls@6

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I'm not sure it matters where his "numbers end up." It's still early enough that a good showing the rest of the way *will* boost his overall numbers, but you can't undo what's been done. Where, as here, the season is not already lost, the *only* thing that matters is how he does from here on out.
I don't disagree. My main point was that it is absurd to declare the contract a failure, after a bad 5-6 weeks. And I would push back a little bit on the idea that having solid overall season doesn't undo, or at least off-set a slump. In any event, hopefully he's gotten settled in and will be a productive hitter the rest of the way. He seem like a thoroughly professional player who's handling his bad start the best way he can, by mostly keeping his head down and trying to grind his way out of it.
 

joe dokes

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I don't disagree. My main point was that it is absurd to declare the contract a failure, after a bad 5-6 weeks. And I would push back a little bit on the idea that having solid overall season doesn't undo, or at least off-set a slump. In any event, hopefully he's gotten settled in and will be a productive hitter the rest of the way. He seem like a thoroughly professional player who's handling his bad start the best way he can, by mostly keeping his head down and trying to grind his way out of it.
I agree with this. My point was slightly different (and in hindsight, maybe not germane to the actual point under discussion). The overall numbers will be what they'll be and are fodder for discussion when the season's over. He could have 4 really good months that carry the team, and end up with "meh" numbers overall. My point was only that, as far as the 2022 team goes, only the 4 months ahead matter.
 

cornwalls@6

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I agree with this. My point was slightly different (and in hindsight, maybe not germane to the actual point under discussion). The overall numbers will be what they'll be and are fodder for discussion when the season's over. He could have 4 really good months that carry the team, and end up with "meh" numbers overall. My point was only that, as far as the 2022 team goes, only the 4 months ahead matter.
Yep, I'm in complete agreement with all that.
 

Daniel_Son

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As of today, here's where he ranks amongst all second basemen:

HR (7): tied for 2nd
RBI (29): 1st
BBs (16): tied for 4th
SOs (45): 1st
SBs (5): tied for 6th
BA (.226): 16th
OBP (.310): 11th
SLG (.438): 4th
OPS (.748): 6th
ISO (.212): 4th
wOBA (.328): 8th
wRC+ (114): tied for 8th
fWAR (1.1): 6th

TL;DR: He's in the top 10 for nearly every offensive category. Currently driven by a very slug-heavy offensive approach, but his average/obp is trending in the right direction (.250/.333 in his last 15 games, .360/.452 in his last 7).
 
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BornToRun

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He currently sports a 112 OPS+. It's SLG heavy, but those are still respectable numbers on the season. Yes, he was horrendous for the first six weeks, but there's no need to downplay where he is now.
Not to mention that offense is down in general and there are plenty of players with OPSes under .700 who still have an OPS+ of 100 or a little higher.
 

moondog80

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Story's OPS is a little SLG heavy, but he has a .310 OBP; the league average is currently .302. This isn't '83 Tony Armas hitting 36 bombs with a .254 OBP against a league average of .328 (maybe the worst 35+ HR season ever, WAR of -0.8).
 
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Archer1979

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As much as I love the BBQ theory (and I am hungry for ribs right now because of this thread)... isn't it more plausible that as his defense has gotten better, so would his hitting? There have been plenty of hitters going into a slump when they're slumping in the field as one aspect of their game bleeds into another. A lot of this could be purely psychological.
 
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chrisfont9

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I have been (jokingly) calling him the Never Hitting Story and am ready to retire that joke, thankfully. He seems to be what we expected, with the caveat that you can't always appreciate a notoriously streaky hitter until you've been through a few ups and downs and can see the pattern. I think the other reason someone could jump to conclusions about a free agent contract is if there's an opportunity cost associated with it, like if the Sox eventually, I dunno, unload Raffy to stay under the LT or something monumentally stupid. But in Story's case, his contract fits comfortably into the Sox' spending cycles for the moment. After this year you can pay nearly his entire salary with the money no longer spent on shared/deferred money for David Price and Adam Ottavino. So if he can manage his ups and downs, and hopefully win over fans in the postseason at least a little, then it's a great deal.
 

Whoop-La White

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The weather has also been consistently warmer. Box scores for the last homestand show only one game where the gametime temp was below 60. And of course it was warm in Arlington before that. Whether or not that has really affected Story's hitting might be doubtful, since before he played his home games in a park where snow in April wasn't unheard of. But warmer weather could have had a good effect on the team as a whole, with more relaxed at-bats, and his success could have carried over from that.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I have been (jokingly) calling him the Never Hitting Story and am ready to retire that joke, thankfully. He seems to be what we expected, with the caveat that you can't always appreciate a notoriously streaky hitter until you've been through a few ups and downs and can see the pattern. I think the other reason someone could jump to conclusions about a free agent contract is if there's an opportunity cost associated with it, like if the Sox eventually, I dunno, unload Raffy to stay under the LT or something monumentally stupid. But in Story's case, his contract fits comfortably into the Sox' spending cycles for the moment. After this year you can pay nearly his entire salary with the money no longer spent on shared/deferred money for David Price and Adam Ottavino. So if he can manage his ups and downs, and hopefully win over fans in the postseason at least a little, then it's a great deal.
What shared/deferred money are they paying Ottavino? Not that it changes your overall point about that extra cash flow w/r/t the luxury tax, I just don't recall any money owed to Ottavino.

Unless Bloom goes on a gigantic spending spree this off-season, I can't see any particular contracts that prevent them from signing Raffy or Bogaerts. They're in line to have roughly $125M in cap space this winter (and that's with Bogaerts penciled in for $20M at minimum). If those guys go unextended, it will be solely a difference of valuation rather than a luxury tax problem. Of course, the same could be argued of Betts, it just so happened that his pending free agency coincided with a desire/need to get under the cap.
 

OCD SS

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I think you’re overstating this quite a lot.

You're right that there were many reports linking Story and the Rangers -- partly because pundits always link star free agents to their hometown teams.

Story of course didn’t dismiss that link. And it's true that the Rangers expressed interest late in the season (hoping Story would play left field). But the closest report I found to support your argument is this one from last summer, when Story said “geography” was a factor in where he’d sign. The writer took that answer and ran with it, but what else is Story going to say? Wouldn’t any free agent say that?

Story also said that playing for a team "with the pieces in place to be a contender" was equally important. I think for your argument to make sense, you’d have to assume that Story is lying about wanting that part -- which is no small lie after spending six seasons on a terrible team -- then faked his enthusiasm all through his Red Sox press conference, and was then forced to say Boston "is where I belong" against his will. It would mean that he so prefers playing LF for a bad Texas team than 2B for the Red Sox that he'd endure a half-decade of infamy in one of the most intense media environments in sports. Wouldn't he have just signed with the Mariners or Twins if that were true?

To believe this fantastical notion, you'd have to consider that the many contributing factors to his April struggles (new baby, new position, new city, new dead ball, short spring training, early April illness, “pressing” after a new FA contract as many do) are unreasonable explanations. But a mere mid-May road trip to Texas is all it took to snap him back into place.
that must be some BBQ.
 

effectivelywild

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As much as I love the BBQ theory (and I am hungry for ribs right now because of this thread)... isn't it more plausible that as his defense has gotten better, so would his hitting? There have been plenty of hitters going into a slump when they're slumping in the field as one aspect of their game bleeds into another. A lot of this could be purely psychological.
Yeah, the "he only started playing better after visiting Texas" argument reminds me of some of the Eric Van conclusions from days of yore. For example, his studies on day/night splits of various players, particularly Varitek and Youkilis. IIRC, he concluded that that the reason why Youkilis was playing poorly in day games that followed night games at home was his (Youkilis) hot girlfriend. As far as correlation = causation arguments go, the idea that getting to visit Texas lifted Story's spirits enough to hit better is a muddled one at best.
 

YTF

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I'm sorry, but when you sign a guy for $160 million you expect him to be able to contribute right away. That's the way these things work. And this wasn't "oh he's not untracked yet but he's still OPSing .700," this was OPSing .561, striking out 4 times and game, costing them a game in Tampa with a silly throwing error and getting the shit booed out of him at home because he wasn't doing anything at all.

I empathize with the real-life struggles of having a new baby but he was an absolute anchor on the team and they may not make the postseason in large part because their big free agent acquisition couldn't get it together until a quarter of the season had passed. That's not acceptable. It wasn't acceptable for Crawford or Panda either. It sounds unfair but that's reality for a guy getting paid to be an impact player: he has to produce right away. I'm absolutely stunned anyone would feel differently.

And fantastical or not he started hitting after he visited home. I don't make the rules here, it's what happened.
I have to be honest, I've no earthly idea WTF this is even all about. If by you account he was so distraught about no being signed by Texas that it affected his performance after signing a big deal in Boston then why would going to Texas snap him out of it in rather than deepen the funk? Wouldn't the woulda', coulda' and shoulda' been of it all just caused him to spiral further?
 

chrisfont9

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What shared/deferred money are they paying Ottavino? Not that it changes your overall point about that extra cash flow w/r/t the luxury tax, I just don't recall any money owed to Ottavino.

Unless Bloom goes on a gigantic spending spree this off-season, I can't see any particular contracts that prevent them from signing Raffy or Bogaerts. They're in line to have roughly $125M in cap space this winter (and that's with Bogaerts penciled in for $20M at minimum). If those guys go unextended, it will be solely a difference of valuation rather than a luxury tax problem. Of course, the same could be argued of Betts, it just so happened that his pending free agency coincided with a desire/need to get under the cap.
Spotrac says $3m for Ottavino this year only. So when that and Price come off next year, presto! $19m.

Betts' needs also coincided with a bloated payroll including Price at the full $31m, the single biggest obstacle to re-signing Mookie (besides maybe Mookie, but moving on), plus another year of Sandoval, Porcello, Pedroia, then adding Sale and Eovaldi going forward. Anyway, we don't need to relive that. The point is, their situation is WAAAAYYY simpler now.
 
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scottyno

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Trevor Story only started hitting well because he wanted to play in Texas (We'll ignore that the hot streak started 2 games before in Atlanta). He also apparently was so thrilled to leave Texas that right after he left he hit 5 home runs in 4 days because.... reasons

Story btw is now hitting exactly the same this year as his career norm, park and league average adjusted of course
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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Doesn’t Bloom have to go on a spending spree this off-season, though? Replacing / resigning Eovaldi, Hernandez, Martinez, Bogaerts, Vazquez, Wacha, etc. isn’t going to be cheap. If Casas and Duran can fill two roles, it gets easier, of course. Sure, lot of cap space, but also lots of key roster spots to fill.

Re: Story, isn’t it likely that there was just a longer than normal adjustment period given the weird off-season? Look at all the high profile players who changed teams, Story seems to be faring better than 75% of them.
 

BornToRun

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Doesn’t Bloom have to go on a spending spree this off-season, though? Replacing / resigning Eovaldi, Hernandez, Martinez, Bogaerts, Vazquez, Wacha, etc. isn’t going to be cheap. If Casas and Duran can fill two roles, it gets easier, of course. Sure, lot of cap space, but also lots of key roster spots to fill.

Re: Story, isn’t it likely that there was just a longer than normal adjustment period given the weird off-season? Look at all the high profile players who changed teams, Story seems to be faring better than 75% of them.
This is what has convinced me that there are going to be multiple extensions/re-signings in the offseason or even coming months. Too much money opening up to not pay some of our guys.
 

scottyno

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Re: Story, isn’t it likely that there was just a longer than normal adjustment period given the weird off-season? Look at all the high profile players who changed teams, Story seems to be faring better than 75% of them.
He also only had 11 spring training at bats, because he signed really late, and then left to see his first kid born. Add in the leaving Coors factor, playing a new position, and playing in a different league vs new pitchers, and there are a lot of reasons why it wouldn't have been a huge surprise to see him get off to a slow start.
 

BornToRun

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He also only had 11 spring training at bats, because he signed really late, and then left to see his first kid born. Add in the leaving Coors factor, playing a new position, and playing in a different league vs new pitchers, and there are a lot of reasons why it wouldn't have been a huge surprise to see him get off to a slow start.
But, Texas!!!111!!
 

Yelling At Clouds

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Doesn’t Bloom have to go on a spending spree this off-season, though? Replacing / resigning Eovaldi, Hernandez, Martinez, Bogaerts, Vazquez, Wacha, etc. isn’t going to be cheap. If Casas and Duran can fill two roles, it gets easier, of course. Sure, lot of cap space, but also lots of key roster spots to fill.
Not that this is necessarily what you mean, but next year’s FA class is decidedly not stacked, though not without names worth considering.
 
It's really great that after playing a huge part in tanking the season in April he's figured out how to hit again. Probably too late to salvage the season, but whatever. Take your victory lap.

They paid this guy $160 million and he didn't show up for six weeks. Wonderful. It also bears noting that he started hitting after the Sox visited his precious home of Texas, which doesn't exactly invalidate my point.
I'm sorry, but when you sign a guy for $160 million you expect him to be able to contribute right away. That's the way these things work. And this wasn't "oh he's not untracked yet but he's still OPSing .700," this was OPSing .561, striking out 4 times and game, costing them a game in Tampa with a silly throwing error and getting the shit booed out of him at home because he wasn't doing anything at all.

I empathize with the real-life struggles of having a new baby but he was an absolute anchor on the team and they may not make the postseason in large part because their big free agent acquisition couldn't get it together until a quarter of the season had passed. That's not acceptable. It wasn't acceptable for Crawford or Panda either. It sounds unfair but that's reality for a guy getting paid to be an impact player: he has to produce right away. I'm absolutely stunned anyone would feel differently.

And fantastical or not he started hitting after he visited home. I don't make the rules here, it's what happened.
Correlation does not equal causation. Which is more likely:

  • Professional athlete throws a temper tantrum after not getting to play for the team that he wants to and intentionally tanks for six weeks, then suddenly has a change of heart and immediately starts playing out of his mind following a visit in which he played against the team that he wishes he was playing for
  • Professional athlete goes through a really rough adjustment period after a weird offseason, switching to a dramatically different home ballpark, an abbreviated spring training, and the birth of a child all during a season in which many other players were also struggling to adjust to a new ball
To me the second seems way, way more likely and the first verges on conspiracy theory weirdness. YMMV.

Of course you are absolutely right that Story's performance for the first portion of the season wasn't acceptable. I was screaming at the TV plenty! There's a big difference between being upset with a player's performance over the short run and making declarations along the lines of the contract already being a disaster or that Story is intentionally tanking. If over the next six years Story plays generally well and contributes to several playoff runs or a ring, will the signing be a disaster then? I'm guessing the answer is no, based on your assessment of JD Drew. And if that's the case then maybe withhold judgment until we have more of the picture.

You can't handwave away the first month of the year.
I don't think many people are doing that. If we discount April entirely then Story has been incredible, far better than expected and a huge win for the team. I don't see anyone making that claim. What I see are a lot of people pointing out that the despair (claiming that this guy is destined to be another Panda/Crawford/Lugo) is maybe not so warranted and some cautious optimism that Story is going to be OK. If you just want to discuss impact on the season, Story now has .38 WPA which is good for fourth on the team (for hitters) behind the obvious trio of Devers, JD, and X. Even with the horrible April, Story has been a net positive for the team so far this season by WPA. Does that justify his entire contract? Of course not! It justifies it no more than April condemns it. We've got 5.75 seasons left to judge this contract on.

Again, every FA that has signed here and struggled at the start has taken immense criticism for it. Lugo, Drew, Panda, Crawford, Lackey etc. Story is no different. I don't think he'd expect it to be any different. If he wanted his struggled to be ignored there were plenty of other teams he could have tried to join.
Criticism is fine, especially when it's constructive criticism. When it turns into personal attacks it really has no value and is quite self destructive. Having a reputation for excoriating players for not jumping right out of the gates undoubtedly hurts the team when it comes to acquiring talent. Ironically it's the one thing that the fan base actually has some control over, and yet many of us choose to be toxic to the detriment of the team. Again, I have no problem with criticism. Every Red Sox fan has the right to be pissed about Story's performance. Reasoned analysis absolutely has a place there. This board is at its best when it's actually finding holes in players games (pitch tipping anyone?) and helping the team correct them. Doesn't happen often, but the fact that it's happened at all is pretty awesome. What doesn't help is character assassination.

EDIT: clarified that Story is 4th on the team among WPA for hitters, not overall
 
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lexrageorge

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
18,100
Story had a month where he put up a 0.594 OPS and a 78 OPS+. In the FWIW category, below are some bad months for notable Red Sox players during their respective prime years (min being the 74 plate appearances that Story had in April). Note that I ignored rookie years and late career decline years, and also ignored 2020 (which I will continue to do):

0.658/77 over 122 PA's
0.520/41 over 108
0.629/74 over 105
0.452/22 over 88

Mookie Betts, August 2017
David Ortiz, May 2009
Manny Ramirez, April 2007
Xander Bogaerts, July 2017

Story himself had had a couple of stretches of similar futility in 2017 (0.650/71 over 97 in June) and 2021 (0.649/73 over 96 in July).

Bottom line is that even the best hitters, over the course of their long prime years, will most likely undergo a stretch similar to that of Story's April when looking at the miniscule and totally meaningless sample size of 74 fucking plate appearances. Of course, what separates the great hitters is that such stretches are rare for them; I admittedly had to dig into the month-by-month for the above 4 players to find those stretches. But they do exist, and I honestly don't think anyone would place Story in the same category as the above 4 players.