Yankees: Former GM’s comments on Rockies-Trevor Story don’t bode well for trade

If the Yankees want to trade for Trevor Story, it may not be easy.

We’ve said it 20 times and we’ll say it again: if the New York Yankees let DJ LeMahieu leave, they better have a near-earth-shattering backup plan ready to execute, because the 2021 roster cannot afford to take a colossal step backwards like that.

One of those we explored was trading for Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, who is entering a contract year next season. He’s owed $18.5 million, but he’s one of the best in the game and would allow the Yankees to shift Gleyber Torres back to second base (which really seems like something they may want to do).

But this was never considered a breezy scenario. While the Rockies are in a tough spot with Nolan Arenado and the NL West arms race, it always felt like they weren’t going to give up on Story that easily. After all, he could be among the building blocks for the next great Rox squad.

If former general manager Jim Duquette’s opinion on the situation holds any weight, it would appear that’s the case.

We’re not sure why this is being compared to the Troy Tulowitzki situation though — at that point the Rockies were awaiting Story’s arrival and managed to find a team willing to take on Tulo’s massive contract. The current scenario surrounds the Rockies’ desire to acquire assets in return for Story in the event he decides he wants to leave in free agency.

Aside from that, we’d agree that it won’t be easy for the Rockies to be at peace with a return package for Story unless it blows them out of the water. However, in an offseason like this, you’re probably not going to get that. Teams are already hesitant to inherit more money on their payrolls, especially for only one year of control.

This isn’t a horrible development for the Yankees, but it potentially takes a valuable option off the table, which then puts more urgency and pressure on the LeMahieu situation. The fact of the mater is fans won’t stand for a one-year stopgap option at shortstop because that’s not a World Series move.

Acquiring Story is. But if this is a sign of things to come, it might be a lot more costly than we were expecting.

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