3 Yankees nightmare scenarios after MLB lockout ends

1. Red Sox Blowing Up Shortstop Market for Correa or Story

The Red Sox wouldn’t really pivot Xander Bogaerts to second base in his theoretical walk year (player opt-out after 2022) just so they could pay Carlos Correa $350 million … would they?

What about if the position switch allowed them to pay Trevor Story about half that? What, then?

On the surface, it wouldn’t make much sense for Boston to be in the shortstop market, and the idea of them heavily pursuing Javier Baez at second made a lot more sense before that Detroit deal was consummated. Even so … they’re certainly poking around. The Sox are one of five known teams to have checked in on Correa before the lockout, joining the Yankees in that fray, and they’ve been rumored to be exploring Story for many different holes on the diamond, from short to second to center.

There’s no other way to put this: the only thing more embarrassing for the Yankees than not signing an expensive shortstop this offseason would be watching the Red Sox do it without a real need.

Imagine the gall of that? “Oh, yeah, a shortstop? Sure. We can do $300 million. We’ll just move our MVP candidate to second, then maybe let him walk and replace him with a tippy-top prospect. We’ll just grab your talent and ask questions later, thanks.”

It’s wild, but it’s also what good organizations do, teams that want to win both now and later and don’t use their luxury tax as a hard cap. This would be Boston’s most powerful punking of the modern Yankees to date. There is no excuse to be silent while Bloom is loud, especially here … and yet, it’s very possible.

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