The best time to trade Jarren Duran was after his monstrous All-Star season in 2024, when he finished inside the top 10 in American League MVP voting. The next-best time to deal him was last summer, just before the trade deadline.
Astute fans will remember that 2025 deadline as a disappointing one, not just for the deals that Craig Breslow made, but the big one he failed to finish as well. He reportedly turned down a blockbuster offer for Duran from the San Diego Padres, which would have included Dylan Cease and Ethan Salas returning to Boston.
It's clear that another such offer isn't coming this year, what with Duran being a year older (and a year closer to free agency) and in the midst of his worst offensive season since his ugly 2021 debut. In fact, it seems like he might not have much value on the trade market at all.
Jarren Duran’s value in teams’ models is not very high, according to @JeffPassan. pic.twitter.com/z95XNpQ3ur
— Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) July 27, 2026
Passing up Jarren Duran blockbusters remains Craig Breslow's biggest whiff with Red Sox
Duran has been a controversial figure with the Red Sox for some time. He earned a lot of goodwill for his honesty about his mental health struggles in the documentary "The Clubhouse: A Year With the Red Sox," but he's also been on the receiving and giving end of some nasty remarks and conversations with fans. His is a complicated off-the-field personality, one that might be wearing thin in Boston after more than a few altercations over the last half-decade.
If you need a concrete example of this, take this bizarre interaction with Willson Contreras on Thursday night. Duran skied a pop-up to left field — where Tyler Soderstrom's 90th percentile arm strength was waiting — and appeared to get mad with Willson Contreras (47th percentile sprint speed) for not tagging up... on a play he clearly would have been out on.
We know Duran is a fiery player who wears his emotions on his sleeve, but there comes a point where maturity has to win out. Too often, that hasn't been the case during his Red Sox tenure.
If you can look past that, there is still a valuable player in here. His .195/.252/.337 (58 wRC+) slash line will be hard to sell other teams on, but he remains a competent power-speed threat (13 homers, 15 steals) who can play solid defense at all three outfield positions. Considering he's still under team control for two more seasons after 2026, it's safe to say Duran's value is still hovering in positive territory (if only slightly).
But that's still a long ways from where he was a few years ago. Even just going back to last year's deadline, it's clear that Breslow misread the market. Sure, Salas was hurt all of last season with a back injury, which scared the Sox off; Cease's impending free agency was also a concern. It was still foolish to turn it down, and by doing so, every other team in the league realized they weren't getting Duran barring a godfather offer.
The real issue was/is that it's just another case of Breslow going by value in a vacuum, rather than in context. Duran is completely superfluous on this team, assuming Roman Anthony is healthy. He's the worst of the four starting outfielders on the roster. Not trading from that position of strength to help other parts of the roster is just terrible personnel management.
Odds are he won't admit defeat and simply move Duran for the sake of moving him, especially not with Anthony still mysteriously lingering on the IL. Barring a miraculous second-half recovery from the former All-Star, though, this will be a stain on Breslow's legacy for a long, long time.
Add us as a preferred source on Google