Red Sox Veteran Infielder Among MLB’s Most Overpaid Players, New Report Claims

Not all of Boston's big investments have panned out

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The Boston Red Sox are almost always willing to dole out big bucks for top talent, a fiscal philosophy that has its obvious rewards but also makes Boston susceptible to the occasional overpay.

Boston has been blessed this year to have at least two bargain contracts in Tanner Houck and Jarren Duran, both of whom were named All-Stars while making under $1 million. Duran might even get MVP votes, which is ridiculous value at $760,000.

Deals like Duran’s and Houck’s make up for ugly contracts that Boston has on its salary sheet, with shortstop Trevor Story’s deal being the most glaring example.

How much is Story’s contract ($22.5M this season) hurting the Red Sox, given his unavailability?

According to a new report from Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller, Story is one of the two most overpaid shortstops in Major League Baseball. In the article released Sunday entitled, “Introducing MLB's 2024 All-Overpaid Team”, Miller named Story and Javier Báez of the Detroit Tigers as the two most overpaid players at their position.

“Without a doubt, Báez has been the bigger detriment to his team's cause,” Miller said. “Then again, at least he's playing. He might be playing miserably most of the time, but there is hope he'll do something to help out on any given night.”

“Story, on the other hand, has been out since a week into the season—this after missing 187 games over the previous two years—leaving Boston in a tough spot in its middle infield all season long. Story is unexpectedly nearing a return from what was originally thought to be a season-ending shoulder surgery, but we shall see if that even helps the Red Sox in their quest to sneak back into the wild card picture.”

Story signed a six-year, $140 million deal with Boston in 2022. Miller called the contract “terrible-looking”, and it’s difficult to disagree based on Story’s meager 145 games played over a three-season stretch since the deal.

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