Red Sox Might Trade $140M All-Star To Make Room For No. 3 Prospect, Per Insider

The Boston Red Sox are already jam-packed with position player talent, but they've still got to find room for two future stars.

Number-one prospect Roman Anthony and number-three prospect Marcelo Mayer are both very close to the big leagues. Anthony looks like a future middle-of-the-order bat in the corner outfield, while Mayer is a smooth-fielding shortstop with more RBI this season than anyone else in either Triple-A or Major League Baseball.

Making room for both of those young studs represents a headache, albeit a very fortunate one, for the Red Sox organization. But what has to give for both to take their places in the starting lineup by the end of the season?

On Monday, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe proposed one potential solution: trading shortstop Trevor Story, whose six-year, $140 million contract runs through 2027, but contains an opt-out after the current season.

"Craig Breslow has to come up with a way to make a series of moves that get Anthony and Mayer on the team," Abraham wrote. "That likely would entail moving Story’s hefty contract, trading some players you’d rather not trade, balancing the lineup, and protecting the organization for the possibility Alex Bregman opts out after the season."

"Or you just wait. Roster problems have a way of sorting themselves out. Injuries and attrition take a toll and opportunities arise. In April, there’s no rush. But if the Sox are still muddling around .500 a month from now and Anthony and Mayer are crushing Triple A pitching, something is going to have to give."

Abraham also went on to predict that someone would be traded who "is a big surprise."

Not to nitpick, but wouldn't the Red Sox rather have Story around in the case that Bregman opts out? That would allow them to put Mayer at third base for a year or two, eliminating potential controversy about Rafael Devers moving back to the hot corner.

Still, there's no denying that right now, Story is a big roadblock to getting Mayer in the lineup. And the 32-year-old is the last player anyone wants to see get hurt, because he's had to overcome so many injuries in a Boston uniform already.

If a trade happens, it will be one of the most highly discussed moves in baseball all season. But we're still a few months away from that trade becoming a potential reality.