Sports

Marcelo Mayer to move to shortstop with Trevor Story undergoing surgery

Published

3 months ago

May 22, 2026

BOSTON — Trevor Story had surgery on Friday to repair a sports hernia and could be out through the All-Star break. In his absence, Marcelo Mayer will transition back to shortstop, the position he played as he rose through Boston’s system.

Story sought multiple opinions on whether surgery would be the best option over rest and ultimately decided to have the procedure, one that he estimated last week would keep him out six to 10 weeks.

Interim Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said Story is recovering at his Texas home and will rejoin the team within the next week to begin his rehab.

“I won’t put a timeline on him, but he’s going to be down for a while,” Tracy said. “That’s the easiest way to say it now, depending on how he responds and reacts to (rehab).”

The extended period without Story means the team will shift Mayer from second to short, and Mayer began taking pregame reps at shortstop last week with bench coach and infielder coach Jose David Flores. Tracy is targeting Sunday as Mayer’s 2026 debut at the position.

“There’s a little bit more work Flo wants to do with him,” Tracy said. “But I definitely think you’ll see more of him there. Does that mean he’ll play there every single day? Maybe not, but we’re definitely going to explore that.”

Though Mayer grew up playing shortstop and played the position for 271 of his 315 minor-league games, he’s largely played elsewhere since his big-league debut last season, with 51 games at second, 39 at third and two games at short. This season, he’s played exclusively at second base (43 games) during the regular season. Despite the familiarity and comfort at shortstop, reacclimating himself to the position and the speed of a big-league game will be the biggest area of focus.

“On different batted-ball types, you take different routes and angles,” Tracy said. “You have more time because the throw is shorter (at second). At short, you have to cut angles differently. I’d say it’s fungo work, with me hitting live fungos and just seeing him react to those angles. When you have a longer throw, it plays a little different. So, just getting him enough reps there where he feels comfortable with that.”

With Mayer shifting to second, Tracy said he will use a mix of Andruw Monasterio, Nick Sogard and Isiah Kiner-Falefa at second base.

“I guess, we’re blessed in the sense that we have very versatile infielders,” he said. “So all those guys can play second. All of them can play third as well. So we have the ability to move people around and still feel like we don’t suffer because they’re all very good defenders.”

Trevor Story has a .547 OPS through 41 games. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

As for Story, this marks yet another season in which he’ll miss significant time due to injury. Since signing a six-year, $140 million deal in 2022, Story’s only full season without time on the injured list came last season when he hit .263 with a .741 OPS in 157 games.

This season, he hit .206 with a .547 OPS and made six errors at shortstop in 41 games. Last week, he said he didn’t want to use the sports hernia, which he said cropped up early in spring training, as an excuse for his poor play, but did admit it was a factor.

“Tried to grind through it and just got to the point where I might need to take a timeout and evaluate some things a little further,” he said in Atlanta. “Obviously, I haven’t been able to really move like myself out there. It kind of built up on me.”

The Red Sox received some positive injury news on two other key players: Garrett Crochet (shoulder inflammation) and Roman Anthony (wrist/hand). Crochet, who’s been out since April 26, will throw a bullpen on Saturday and will face hitters for the first time in live batting practice early next week.

After experiencing pain when he began swinging on Monday, Anthony was reevaluated by doctors on Thursday and is healing well with no setbacks from the swings despite the pain.

Anthony continues to do all baseball activities, including throwing, and his grip strength has improved. The rotational motion of swinging is the only area where he’s experiencing pain in the sprained hand/wrist ligament.

Sports

'There's no hiding'- IBF champ McKenna puts middleweight division on notice

Published

3 minutes ago

August 9, 2026

qasimgillani

'There's no hiding'- IBF champ McKenna puts middleweight division on notice

Sports

Carabao Cup: Burnley edge win on penalties, West Ham, Norwich & Watford through | Football News

Published

9 minutes ago

August 9, 2026

qasimgillani

Kyle Walker struck the winning penalty as Burnley edged out Notts County 4-3 in a shoot-out to reach the Carabao Cup second round after a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.

Newly-promoted County, League Two play-off final winners over Salford in May, led through Callum Roberts at half-time before Zian Flemming equalised early in the second period for the Clarets.

Walker struck the winning penalty after Burnley goalkeeper Max Weiss had saved efforts from Notts pair Emile Acquah and Jacob Bedeau in the shoot-out.

West Ham came from behind to beat Portsmouth 3-1 at the London Stadium in their first match following relegation from the Premier League.

The Hammers fell behind to Adrian Segecic’s first-half opener, but turned it round before the break with Taty Castellanos and Jarrod Bowen on target, before the former notched his second in the second half.

Substitute Jamal Lowe struck the only goal as Sheffield Wednesday beat 10-man Bolton 1-0 at Hillsborough.

Lowe scored midway through the second half after Bolton’s Xavier Simons was sent off for punching Owls’ on-loan Leeds striker Harry Gray in retaliation having been pulled back.

Millwall goalkeeper Lukas Jensen saved all four of QPR’s penalties as the Lions won 2-0 in a shoot-out at Loftus Road after the game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.

Luke Cundle had given Millwall a second-half lead after a goalkeeper error before the Hoops hit back through a late own goal from Mark Sykes.

Norwich debutant Andre Brooks was on target as the Canaries cruised to a 4-1 win against MK Dons at Carrow Road.

Cardiff substitute Jack Moylan also scored on his debut, firing the winner as the Bluebirds won 3-2 against Swindon, for whom James Debayo was sent off for two yellow cards in the final six minutes.

August Priske’s first-half finish sealed Birmingham a 1-0 win at Swansea and Marc Bola’s stunning long-range strike deep in added time clinched Watford victory over Crawley by the same score.

Late goals from substitutes Andri Gudjohnsen and Jayden Fevrier secured Blackburn a 2-1 win at Burton.

Newly-promoted Lincoln picked up where they left off last season, winning 2-1 at Derby thanks to first-half goals from Ben House and Dom Jefferies before Sammie Szmodics pulled one back for the Rams.

Ollie Norburn’s own goal and Robert Bozenik’s late effort secured Stoke a 2-0 win against Oldham at the bet365 Stadium and Bradford pair Will Swan and Aden Baldwin earned their side a 2-0 home win against Rochdale.

Fleetwood captain Ched Evans’ first-half effort sealed his side a 1-0 home win against Chesterfield and Cambridge hit back to beat Barnet 2-1 through second-half goals from Ben Knight and Isaac Heath.

AFC Wimbledon, Barnsley and Reading progressed after winning on penalties against Newport, Wigan and Bromley respectively, while Preston, Shrewsbury and Doncaster came through respective shoot-outs against Huddersfield, Salford and Stockport.

Luca Moore’s late goal sealed Crewe a 2-1 victory against Accrington at Gresty Road and late goals from Demetri Mitchell and Idris El Mizouni secured Leyton Orient a 2-0 home win against Oxford.

Peterborough, Luton and Blackpool all won on the road, at Bristol Rovers, Gillingham and Grimsby respectively, and Caleb Okoli’s header secured Leicester a 1-0 home win against Northampton.

In the evening kick-offs, there was a 2-0 victory for Southampton as Cyle Larin and Romeo Akachukwu scored their goals at Colchester.

While West Brom won 4-1 at Rotherham and Charlton secured a 3-1 victory at Cheltenham.

When is the second round draw?

The draw for the second round of the 2026/27 Carabao Cup will be made live on Sky Sports Football on Monday August 10, during the build-up to the tie between Plymouth and Exeter.

The draw will feature all first-round winners, as well as the 11 Premier League clubs not participating in European competition.

All Saturday’s results

Cambridge 2-1 Barnet
QPR 1-1 Millwall (0-2 pens)
AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Newport (5-4 pens)
Barnsley 1-1 Wigan (6-5 pens)
Bradford 2-0 Rochdale
Bristol Rovers 0-1 Peterborough
Bromley 1-1 Reading (4-5 pens)
Burnley 1-1 Notts County (4-3 pens)
Burton 1-2 Blackburn
Cardiff 3-2 Swindon
Crewe 2-1 Accrington
Derby 1-2 Lincoln
Fleetwood 1-0 Chesterfield
Gillingham 1-3 Blackpool
Leicester 1-0 Northampton
Leyton Orient 2-0 Oxford
Norwich 4-1 MK Dons
Preston 1-1 Huddersfield (4-3 pens)
Salford 1-1 Shrewsbury (3-4 pens)
Sheff Wed 1-0 Bolton
Stockport 1-1 Doncaster (4-5 pens)
Stoke 2-0 Oldham
Swansea 0-1 Birmingham
Watford 1-0 Crawley
West Ham 3-1 Portsmouth
Cheltenham 1-3 Charlton
Colchester 0-2 Southampton
Rotherham 1-4 West Brom

Sports

'Good signs' for Man Utd as Mbeumo scores in encouraging draw with PSG

Published

15 minutes ago

August 9, 2026

qasimgillani

Bryan Mbeumo earned Man Utd a 1-1 draw with Paris St-Germain in Gothenburg, a pre-season friendly which left boss Michael Carrick encouraged by the “good signs” from his side.