Even if they didn’t sign him until late in the offseason (the lockout likely played a role in the timing), Trevor Story was someone the Red Sox were looking at for a while and the optimism that made him a target abounds. (Ken Rosenthal; The Athletic)
But Story wasn’t the only free agent shortstop on the market, nor was he the only one to command the dollar amount he got from Boston (Javier Báez was the other). In some alternate reality, maybe the Red Sox would have signed Báez instead of Story. (John Tomase; NBC Sports Boston)
The idea of getting long-term deals on the books with Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts is something Chaim Bloom says he can get behind.