The Astros could sign Trevor Story.
There are little-to-no options left on the free agent market for shortstop after the Rangers swiped up the next best options behind Correa for themselves. But, Trevor Story is no slouch.
In fact if you look at all the free agents this year, both signed and unsigned, Story has the second highest WAR over the past three years at 13.7 (Only behind Marcus Semien’s 15.9). That’s higher than Max Scherzer, Corey Seager, Javier Baez, Freddie Freeman and yes the person he would be replacing, Carlos Correa.
The main knock on Story is his home-road splits. Colorado Rockies hitters are of course harder to judge based on the fact they play where the air is thin and the ball flies as a result. But Story seems to be especially dependent on it. Here are his home-road splits over his career as well as in 2021.
Career:
Home – 375 games, BA/SLG/OPS .303/.603/.972, 100 doubles, 21 triples, 95 home runs.
Road – 370 games, BA/SLB/OPS .241/.442/.619, 80 doubles, six triples, 63 home runs.
2021:
Home – 71 games, BA/SLG/OPS .296/.515/.880, 20 doubles, three triples, 11 home runs.
Road – 71 games, BA/SLG/OPS .203/.426/.717, 14 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs.
With no drastic difference in games played between home and road, Story clearly hits better at Coors. How much of that is a product of where he plays? That’s the roll of the dice you take by signing him and the main risk associated with committing to that decision.