The Red Sox were dealt a major blow this month when it was revealed star infielder Trevor Story would require an internal brace procedure to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom did not give a timeline, and he indicated that having Story available in 2023 was not something that they “want to bank on.” Given the departure of Xander Bogaerts in free agency and Story’s expected move over to shortstop, that looked to be a brutal blow to Boston’s chances this season.
Things have taken a slightly more positive turn, though, with Story telling reporters that he believes he’ll play this season, via Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. To what extent Story can get himself involved remains to be seen, and there’s still no timeline in place for his recovery, but at the very least it’s a more upbeat outlook than Bloom’s.
Story went into it a bit more, via NESN’s Greg Dudek:
“Yeah, oh yeah. In my mind, yes. I think it’s too early for a timetable,” Story said. “We’re 11 days out of surgery. A lot of that kind of depends on the way we’re progressing and this whole rehab process. But I feel good about that. I feel good about how I’m going to attack this and the team that we have. And all of our therapy guys, I know we’re going to do the best job we can. It’s going to be something I’m really looking forward to. We’re going to do it the right way, though. We’re not going to cut any corners.”
Story experienced discomfort last month when he was ramping up his offseason program. That was after feeling fine for all of November and a good chunk of December. Abraham relays that Story was able to avoid Tommy John surgery on the elbow, as it’s just a partial tear.
The Red Sox will likely turn to Enrique Hernandez to handle Story’s reps at shortstop until he can return, particularly after boosting their outfield stocks with the signing of Adam Duvall. Bloom indicated recently that the team could still pursue a middle infield addition, and the Sox have been loosely tied to remaining free agents Josh Harrison and Elvis Andrus recently, but it seems the internal option of Hernandez and Christian Arroyo up the middle is the favorite.
