Boston Red Sox Trevor Story enters the field for the first time as the Red Sox take on the Royals at Fenway on August 8, 2023 in , BOSTON, MA. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
The 2024 Red Sox are one giant question mark made up of a million smaller question marks, like one of those photomosaics, a picture comprised of thousands of minuscule images.
In the year of a baseball team, there are seemingly endless questions. Some have a clear answer. (For example, signing Pablo Sandoval was a very expensive mistake.) Other queries are less black-and-white, open to interpretation and ongoing debate, or only answered by the passage of time, or never fully resolved at all. (Could David Ortiz have played another season?)
It’s a complex puzzle, and ever-changing as the offseason progresses into spring training, the regular season, and if you’re lucky, a postseason run. Free agency, trades, and injuries transform the overall image, too. Who knows what the picture of the 2024 Red Sox will look like a week from now? A month? On Opening Day? Next offseason?
Welcome to “Starr’s 7 Questions,” a new segment for the 2024 season. On Mondays, I’ll lay out seven questions on timely topics, so that we may ponder and track potential answers throughout the week, the month, or even the season.
Here’s the first heptad:
1. Is Trevor Story the new leader of the Red Sox?
Trevor Story’s first two seasons in Boston were a mixed bag. He played second base instead of shortstop – and dealt with injuries – in ’22, then missed most of ’23 due to elbow surgery. Thus, heading into the third year of his six-year, $140 million contract, we’re still waiting to find out exactly what Story can do, and who he can be for this team when fully healthy and playing his natural position.
But if last week is any indication, Story is already rising to the challenge of leading a Red Sox team that very much needs direction. As promised in the early fall, he took it upon himself to host a pre-spring training camp for his fellow infielders, inviting Triston Casas, David Hamilton, newcomer Vaughn Grissom, and second-base prospect Nick Yorke to Dallas, where Story makes his offseason home. They worked out and trained together, played basketball and football, and attended a Dallas Mavericks-Memphis Grizzlies game.
It’s something Story learned from longtime Colorado Rockies star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who invited him to a similar camp when he was just a Double-A prospect. Now 31 years old, Story is the oldest, most veteran Red Sox infielder by far – Hamilton, 26, was the only infielder present older than 23 – and aware that he needs to step up for his young teammates.
“Tulo did it for me and it helped me so much,” Story told reporters in September. “I learned so much from him, how to work and go about an offseason. I still use a pretty similar template to this day. I want to do that to pay back the game and entrench myself in this organization even more.”
2. Can Triston Casas replicate his Rookie of the Year finalist season?
Speaking of infielders, happy birthday to Casas, who turns 24 on Monday, Jan. 15.
After finishing third in American League Rookie of the Year voting, what will he do in his sophomore season?
His first full MLB season got off to a slow start, but Casas rapidly adjusted, and quickly began figuring out the big leagues. After hitting .133 with a .576 between Opening Day and the last of April, he hit .257 with a .766 OPS in May, then put up better numbers in each of the remaining months of the year. He displayed a level of patience at the plate rarely seen in more veteran hitters, averaging under a strikeout per game. His 70 walks not only led the team, but tied for 10th-most in the league. And of the 14 AL hitters who drew 70 or more walks, he was the only one younger than 25.
In other words Triston Casas will be a tough act for Triston Casas to follow.
3. Why isn’t Rafael…
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