Insider says the oft-injured former Red Sox All-Star is key to the 2025 season

The Boston Red Sox missed the playoffs, and that means it’s time to evaluate what needs to change in the organization.

After a brutal second half that saw Boston slowly slip out of contention for a very attainable Wild Card spot, all solutions should be on the table. The pitching, hitting and defense all struggled at some point during the season, so there are a variety of issues to address.

Additionally, Boston has numerous tools at its disposal: free agency, trades, promoting top prospects and much more. But perhaps the Red Sox are trusting that some of their improvement will come from a somewhat surprising source within the organization: shortstop Trevor Story.

Story has missed significant time in all three seasons he played in Boston, with his shoulder injury in April leading to a five-month absence in 2024. However, one insider believes a healthy Story could still be game-changing for the Red Sox in year four.

On Thursday, Red Sox beat reporter Ian Browne of MLB.com said defense was an “area of ​​improvement” for Boston in 2025 and suggested that keeping Story healthy would be a key to the team’s success.

“The Red Sox need to get better on defense. For the second year in a row, inconsistency in the field – particularly in the infield – was a big problem,” Browne said.

“The only similarity is that Story missed the most games in both seasons. If he can remain on the field throughout 2025, that alone would stabilize the situation given his outstanding performance at shortstop and his status as a widely respected veteran.”

It might not occur to fans that Story could be so important to the team, considering they played their best ball of the season without him in the early summer. But the roster was built with Story in mind, and Boston paid him $140 million because he can make a big difference at his best.

Suffice it to say, the Red Sox defense has been very poor the last few years and Trevor Story is an excellent defender. He has managed 21 outs above average in 161 games in Boston, which is as many OAA as MLB leader Jacob Young has in 2024.

And even if you don’t dream of Story returning to his offensive best, he can still be a very solid hitter for a shortstop. He had a 102 OPS+ in two of his three seasons in Boston, which the Red Sox would happily take, but his career number of 108 would be even better.

If Story can actually put together a full, healthy shortstop season for the Red Sox, it could change the team’s entire outlook. But Red Sox fans have fallen into this trap before.

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