Red Sox's Most Obvious Trade Candidate No One's Talking About

Is there a salary dump to be had?

Apr 15, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story runs the bases on his three run home run against the Minnesota Twins in the third inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With only five days to go before the trade deadline, speculation about what the Boston Red Sox might do is getting narrow-minded.

There's a lot of shortstop talk, to put things succinctly. The Red Sox have been linked to the likes of Zach Neto, CJ Abrams, Jeremy Peña, and even Francisco Lindor, whom other reports have denied is on the table for Boston. But bringing in a shortstop might also necessitate moving a shortstop away.

The Red Sox have Andruw Monasterio and Tseng-Che Cheng on the 40-man roster, but Trevor Story, Marcelo Mayer, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are all on the injured list and active in their rehab processes. That would represent too many mouths to feed by sometime in late August, and more consideration should be given to Story being the one dealt.

Story feasibly could be traded by Monday

May 4, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story (10) hits a single in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It doesn't seem likely that the Red Sox would be able to unload Masataka Yoshida, who is set to make $18.7 million next year. Story is signed up for $25 million, and it's true enough that no team would eat that full cost. But compared to Yoshida, the Red Sox might have the appetite to eat almost all of that just to save a few million bucks against the luxury tax threshold.

A few insiders have agreed with the notion that Story could be moved, though as far as we can tell, none have reported that the Red Sox were actively pursuing that move. Most recently, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic wrote that "trading Story is an option, but finding a suitor might be tough" on Wednesday.

After Story's sports hernia surgery in May, the Red Sox gave Mayer a chance to handle shortstop duties. His failure to grab the reins, followed by his own trip to the injured list, left the Red Sox marooned, though Cheng was quite helpful throughout the recent 15-game winning streak.

The sticking point here is that if Boston really is going to bring in a replacement at shortstop, Story is going to be a respected veteran leader trapped in a clubhouse without a role at some point, whether that gets delayed until next season when Curtis Mead is healthy or happens soon.

So although perhaps we shouldn't expect a trade, it feels like the possibility is at least worth holding on to in the case that one of those big-name shortstops gets hooked.