Trevor Story’s final destination just became more apparent

On Thursday, there was a bombshell report made by ESPN’s Buster Olney about the state of the free agent shortstop market involving Carlos Correa and, by proxy, Trevor Story.

As Call To The Pen‘s Kevin Henry noted yesterday, the Detroit Tigers reportedly offered Carlos Correa a ten-year deal for $275 million which Correa, obviously, turned down. But it was also reported that the Houston Astros are not comfortable offering any more than a six-year deal to any player.

That means that Trevor Story is all the more likely to sign with the Houston Astros

Considering that Carlos Correa reportedly wants a ten-year deal for more than what Francisco Lindor got last offseason from the New York Mets ($341 million), the Houston Astros seemingly are out on re-signing Correa. Trevor Story, who is likely going to get a contract for less than half of Correa money-wise, was already a perfect fit for the Houston Astros but now, he is even more of a perfect fit.

At the end of the season, Story told Rockies media, including our sister site Rox Pile, what he expected out of a team in free agency. Story is a native of Irving, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas. Story was viewed as a fit for the Texas Rangers because of that but with both Marcus Semien and Corey Seager signing there, Story signing there is out of the question.

But Houston checks off more boxes for him anyway. He said that, among his five public things on his checklist (plus a few others that he wouldn’t publicly divulge), he wants to be close to home (Houston is the next closest team from Arlington) and he wants to be on a winner. Houston has been to the ALCS in each of the last five seasons and has been to the World Series in three of those five years. In the current age of baseball, you can’t get a more winning franchise.

MLB Trade Rumors also projected that Story would get a six-year deal for $126 million this offseason. That would play right into the budget and length that the Houston Astros are comfortable with and they still could have the finances to make a few other moves this offseason.