In the same breath, Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom provided encouraging and alarming news regarding the potential injury timeline for Trevor Story.
Story in all likelihood will miss at minimum a portion of the upcoming season after the Red Sox announced Tuesday that the second baseman underwent an internal bracing procedure on the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
While Bloom could see Story playing in 2023, he also didn't shoot down the worst-case scenario for Story, which would be the 30-year-old being sidelined for the entirety of the season.
"Not ready to put a timetable on it yet," Bloom told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. "I certainly would not rule out a return some time during 2023. But it's also not something at this stage we want to bank on. It will take how long it takes. We want to make sure he's 100%. Certainly with this being the internal brace procedure and not Tommy John, it does leave the door open for a return this season."
There is reason for optimism that Story will put on a Red Sox uniform at some point during his second season in Boston. The internal brace procedure typically comes with a recovery timeframe of four-to-six months.
Bloom also said that Story needing surgery wasn't something that was on anyone's radar at the conclusion of the 2022 season in October.
"While ramping up throwing, Trevor experienced pain in his elbow. This was just before Christmas," Bloom said, per The Boston Globe's Alex Speier. " ... It was not something we contemplated at the end of the season."
Story's brief tenure thus far with the Red Sox has been injury filled. He played only 94 games last season as he missed over a month due to a fracture in his hand after getting hit by a pitch.
There were concerns about Story's diminished arm strength as well when he signed a six-year, $140 million deal with Boston just prior to the 2022 campaign. And Bloom hopes the procedure can help correct some of that, too, especially with the Red Sox boss revealing that Story was eyeing to play the vacant shortstop position for Boston this season.
"We're certainly hopeful… Hopefully this will just allow him to be stronger moving forward," Bloom said, per Speier.
