Surprise Trade Proposal: Braves Target Red Sox’s Injury-Prone $140M Star
The Atlanta Braves should be one of Major League Baseball’s best teams in 2025. There’s just one gaping hole they need to fix in their lineup.
Much of the Braves lineup was decimated by injury this season, but the team’s projected starting shortstop was healthy all season long. Unfortunately, Orlando Arcia, just one season after making an All-Star appearance, was one of the league’s worst hitters.
Arcia slashed .218/.275/.354, making him worth just 0.6 wins above replacement despite excellent defense. In a lineup that was missing Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley, Arcia was an automatic out for a team that couldn’t afford one.
So it’s clear the Braves need a shortstop, but it’s uncertain whether they will pursue an expensive one in free agency. Perhaps there is an even more unconventional solution for Atlanta that involves a trade with a familiar partner.
One Braves enthusiast, Bailey Freeman (better known by his YouTube channel name, Foolish Baseball), suggested that the Braves should make an offer to the Boston Red Sox to assume most or all of shortstop Trevor Story’s three-year, $72.5 million contract.
“Braves offseason take: they should call up the Red Sox and arrange a Trevor Story salary dump,” Freeman said on X.
When another user responded by asking what the Red Sox would get from the Braves, Freeman replied, “that’s the best part! nothing!”
The Braves had resounding success in trading with the Red Sox last winter, nabbing injury-prone starting pitcher Chris Sale, who stayed healthy and should have the Cy Young Award locked up. But bringing in Story could be a different beast altogether.
The 31-year-old Story has played in just 163 games in his three Red Sox seasons, and he hasn’t been particularly good when he’s played. His .693 OPS and 210 strikeouts are far from the numbers he used to put up as a two-time All-Star for the Colorado Rockies.
However, if there’s anywhere Story is going to succeed in 2025, it could be Atlanta. Whether the Red Sox would deal with the Braves again after the Sale caper remains uncertain.
