With a shoulder issue, Trevor Story is already out for the season. The 31-year-old Boston Red Sox infielder is still sidelined frequently after leaving the Colorado Rockies, but how does he do in comparison to Kris Bryant?
Story, a former Purple Pinstripes shortstop who was formerly their top player, left the Rockies following the 2021 season and signed the fifth-largest free agency contract in the winter of 2022. Since then, he has only played 145 games (worth 3.5 rWAR) for the Red Sox over the course of three seasons. Boston, however, has collapsed from being a playoff team to finishing in last place twice in the last two years. That’s partly because Story, who signed a six-year, $140 million contract with the organization, is among the team’s most costly players, and his body is failing him.
However, Story wasn’t the worst player signed that summer despite his agreement with the Red Sox. No, that title belongs to the individual who signed a bigger contract to replace a portion of that output.
The Rockies offered former National League MVP Bryant a seven-year, $182 million contract just three days before Story signed. With just 131 appearances for Colorado, the once positionless player has a -0.9 rWAR.
Basically—based on availability cost and production at the rare times the two have played—even though the Story contract is a disaster in Boston, the Rockies would’ve been better off keeping him instead of signing Bryant that winter. Sure Story isn’t a first baseman or a corner outfielder like Bryant has primarily played in purple—but Bryant wasn’t truly those things before he inked. Story, in fact, also moved positions—shifting to second base his first season in the American League before going back to short.
Story has at least some value because of his ability to stay in the middle infield and continue to be a great defender. Bryant’s original big league position at third base has been moved.Bryant has been extremely destructive at the plate; in the three years that he has called Coors Field home (16), he has hit fewer than half as many home runs as he did in his MVP season (39). The story has been roughly equally awful. As of Monday, Bryant’s career totals with the Rockies were 250/.330/.392 with 16 home runs and 49 RBI, while Story’s has generated a slashline of.227/.288/.394 with 19 home runs and 84 RBI.
The two were just about as productive for the Cubs and Rockies respectively before signing elsewhere, though the highs with Bryant were some of the best in baseball.
These two stick out pretty badly in the very hyped 2022 free agent class, though Javy Baez signed an identical deal as Story to go to Detroit and he’s been worse but at least has played almost 300 games. The first and third-biggest contracts signed that winter went to Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, who were key in winning the Rangers a title, similarly, the top pitcher signed was Max Scherzer in New York, who was traded to Texas and helped the Rangers win it all last fall. There was also Freddie Freeman in that class, who has twice finished top five in MVP voting since going to Los Angeles. The only deal that can even be in the conversation with Bryant and Story is Robbie Ray’s five-year $115 million deal. The starter struggled in Seattle then needed Tommy John Surgery and he’s onto San Francisco.
All of this is to say that the Rockies could’ve made a bad move in the winter of 2022, and somehow they found a way to make the worst move possible. Unlike Story though, who is done for the year, Bryant can actually improve upon his production per dollar this year. Given Bryant’s current form, the Rockies would probably be better off with their highest-paid player going on the Injured List whereas the Red Sox are now missing a productive player
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