Red Sox $140 Million All-Star Surprisingly Called Trade Option

The Boston Red Sox are in an intriguing spot.

Boston won 81 games last year and still has work to do. The Red Sox added Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler so far this offseason but haven't addressed a big issue yet. Boston hasn't added any big offensive pieces yet.

That doesn't mean that the Red Sox won't, but they haven't yet. Pitchers and catchers will start to report to Spring Training in February and by then there likely will be even more changes on the horizon.

The Red Sox need to find a way to maximize the short-term without sacrificing the long-term future. Boston has three of the best prospects in baseball in Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kristian Campbell on the big league doorstep.

Boston already has built a great core and adding these three could help make the team contenders for years to come as the trio get big-league experience.

The Red Sox are going to have to walk a fine line of adding while also not blocking the trio. What could the team do? Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller surprisingly mentioned Trevor Story as a hypothetical trade chip.

"Suffice it to say, either Alex Bregman or Pete Alonso heading to Beantown still feels plausible, if not more likely to happen than not," Miller said. "And if they do land one of those expensive, slugging, corner infielders, Triston Casas lands on the trade block in a hurry—if he isn't already there.

"Moreover, even after giving up quite a bit from their farm system to acquire Crochet, they still have some top-notch trade chips down in Worcester, and/or the prospects necessary to replace, say, Trevor Story or Masataka Yoshida, if they wanted to trade those expensive veterans instead."

Story has three more years on a six-year, $140 million deal if he doesn't decide to opt out of his deal at the end of the 2025 campaign. It would be an absolute shock if Boston traded him this offseason. Boston may be looking for ways to adjust the roster, but trading away another right-handed bat wouldn't make sense, especially with the lineup already lefty-heavy.