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Sell High For What?

Even before Trevor Story hit four homers in his first three major league games, he was the subject of a lot of draft buzz in the last week of spring training. Now that he's hit four homers, three of them over 400 feet, he's obviously one of the more interesting players of this early season. The "sharp" but somewhat predictable advice on Story is to sell-high, not buy-in if you're still to draft, etc... And there are readily apparent risk factors.

  • Job Security - Jose Reyes remains away from the team on administrative league while MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred continues his investigation into Reyes' domestic abuse allegations ("... take your time, Rob..." - All of Story's owners). We're still awaiting word on whether there will be a suspension and how long, and he'll need some time to ramp up to speed after the suspension is served. But it seems likely that he'll return at some point, though it's by no means a done deal that the job is his once he returns.
  • League Adjustments - Many times when a rookie starts well, the league needs a bit of time to adjust, get film and/or scouting reports on him and adjust accordingly. Sometimes it can take a couple of months, and with other players it can happen a lot more rapidly. I have to imagine that adjustment phase occurs sooner with all the resources available to teams - though so do the counter-adjustments by that player.
  • Player Flaws - Story burst on the scene in 2012, when he hit .277/.367/.505 with 18 homers and 15 stolen bases as a 19-year old at Low-A Asheville. But he fell apart the following year at High-A Modesto, striking out a whopping 183 times, or 33 percent of the time. His contact woes didn't go away in 2014 either, as he struck out 34.6% of the time in 237 plate appearances in Double-A. He improved last year, but at 24% he still had a pretty high whiff rate, and that is a pretty reliable indicator of future batting average struggles.

We can all put on our Captain Obvious hat and say that he's going to come back to earth, and that his trade value is unlikely to be higher in the next few months than it is now. But just as saying that a player will regress is not a mic-drop, neither is saying to sell-high on that player. We need to ask, "what is the right price?"

I own Story in just two of my leagues, one of which is an 18-team keeper with 10-player farm systems for each team, so that one really doesn't apply to our conversation. For the most part, I'm going to limit the scope of this blog to redraft leagues. There are too many other factors to consider once you enter keeper considerations.

My initial projection for him was pretty cautious (.240/.303/.400 in 525 at-bats, with 14 homers, 59 RBI, 70 Runs and 19 stolen bases). I'm still cognizant of his risks, but I think I need to do a better job of incorporating his upside. Jeff Zimmerman recently quantified just how large the Coors Field effect is on batting average - it's greater than you think, creating an even great impact than on a player's power. So I believe I've underestimated Story's batting average potential.

If I were to sell Story, I'd demand to receive a higher floor player. I'd be less-inclined to merely accept a player that had a higher ADP, but had a lot of volatility of his own. Your mileage may vary, but I wasn't in on Jordan Zimmermann or Shelby Miller at all this year, and I'd be disinclined to accept either straight up for Story. If I were to do a straight-up challenge trade at shortstop, I would not accept Starlin Castro or Addison Russell, Marcus Semien I'd probably reject (why trade for a player with the same or lower ADP with a lower ceiling?), and even Ian Desmond might be a hard sell. As colleague Chris Liss suggested on-air, he's at risk of becoming the next B.J. Upton following his strike zone collapse of the last two seasons. Again, Story has a lot of risk, but a #2 hitter at Coors Field with the ability to hit for power and steal bases has a very large ceiling too - if I'm trading him, it's to acquire certainty, not volatility.

So my very short list of shortstops I'd take for Story at this moment would include the young trio of Lindor, Seager and Bogaerts (none of whom I could get, as their respective owners certainly had to target them early), Troy Tulowitzki and maybe Brandon Crawford or Semien. That's the list for me, as far as challenge trades are concerned.

It's more likely that a trade of Story would have to be for a different position. The most likely Story trade story (my one and only pun ... tonight ... involving his name) would entail a "found loot" theory, where the owner of Story also had another viable shortstop, and would want to cash him in for production at another position. I submitted the question on his trade value to my Twitterverse:

— Jeff Erickson (@Jeff_Erickson) March 16, 2016

The responses were rapid and voluminous. I had no idea so many people cared about this topic! But I'm still getting feedback, seven hours later.

Here are the range of suggestions given so far, with those trades offered in italics, those already consummated bolded:

  • Justin Verlander
  • Brian Dozier
  • Gregory Polanco and Jim Johnson, in an NL-only keeper league with holds
  • Ian Desmond (sort of - Liss offered Desmond to Doug Dennis from BaseballHQ.com in a hypothetical, which was accepted)
  • Jeremy Jeffress
  • Starlin Castro
  • Shelby Miller
  • Garrett Richards
  • Steve Cishek
  • Story + Lucas Giolito for Aroldis Chapman - in a keeper league, pre-outburst
  • Tyson Ross or Garrett Richards
  • Christian Yelich - owner insisted on getting a top 100 player back
  • Billy Hamilton + Eduardo Escobar - offer rejected
  • Corey Kluber, Zach Britton + Josh Harrison for Story, Aroldis Chapman and Anthony Rendon
  • Marcus Stroman and Matt Duffy
  • Socrates Brito - Before the outburst on March 30, *by* a co-owner. Sad Trombone
  • Michael Brantley
  • Corey Seager
  • Adrian Gonzalez
  • Aaron Nola
  • Carlos Gomez
  • Gregory Polanco
  • Jacob deGrom and Story for ... Mike Trout
  • "Someone between 75-125 on ESPN's ratings - e.g. Danny Salazar, Garrett Richards, ..."
  • Adrian Beltre
  • Steven Matz - done, with the respondent *acquiring* Story for Matz.
  • for Brandon Crawford + and upgrade elsewhere in a 2-for-2
  • Story + Doolittle for Kenley Jansen
  • Bryce Harper + Daniel Murphy for Manny Machado, Luis Severino + Story - preseason, and in a keeper league, with salaries involved, so not the most useful for this exercise.
  • Gio Gonzalez
  • Jordan Zimmermann
  • Carlos Martinez
  • Jordan Zimmermann - accepted Tuesday morning
  • Gregory Polanco or Maikel Franco

I understand the reticence to buy in on a player after three great games, especially when the player has fleas. Not every prospect is Carlos Correa, and not every breakout guy turns into Ben Zobrist or Jose Bautista, I get it. But not every early breakout guy is Chris Shelton, nor is every Coors Field player that outproduces expectations likely to turn into Clint Barmes either. Breakout players aren't easy to find, and I regret the ones that I don't go after because of my skepticism more than the ones that I reach for that don't pan out. I personally will try to "buy high" (h/t Todd Zola) on Story, with the notion that he's not getting priced up enough, so long as the price is in the Matz or Nola level, and not the Stroman level.

Hopefully this little exercise gives you an idea of what his trade market is, should you decide to buy or sell Trevor Story. Please keep commenting on your expectations and experiences with Story.