The San Diego Padres on August 31 gave MLB an early notice of one of its September call-ups by announcing that the organization's top prospect, Ethan Salas, will join the team in the big leagues.
Salas is a 20-year-old catching phenom and the No. 23 prospect in MLB. Baseball fans in the know may have heard about him due to his top prospect status, but Boston Red Sox fans remember his name for something else entirely — the Padres once tried to trade him and a few other players to the Sox for Jarren Duran.
San Diego has been the team most interested in Duran (at least, publicly) since the beginning of the rumors that Boston was taking calls on him. The Padres reportedly offered the Sox Dylan Cease, — currently an American League Cy Young Award frontrunner with the Toronto Blue Jays — Leo De Vries and Salas for Duran, a deal that Boston looks foolish for not taking.
Duran has only just begun finding himself at the plate this season. The Red Sox hoped to rely on the outfielder as a veteran and power threat in the lineup but that hasn't gone to plan as he's batted just .207/.264/.369 with 148 strikeouts over 129 games. He deserves ample credit for his 19 home runs and 68 RBI.
Padres promote top catching prospect Ethan Salas, who they tried to trade to Red Sox for Jarren Duran
The Red Sox had many reasons to trade Duran over the offseason or at the 2025 trade deadline. His performance has declined (slightly in 2025, significantly this year) since his 2024 showing for which he landed in eighth place in American League MVP voting. He also contributes to a logjam in the outfield, which hasn't been as big an issue as was expected due to a long-term injury to Roman Anthony and the more recent loss of Masataka Yoshida to a hamstring issue.
Since trading Kyle Teel to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Garrett Crochet, the upper levels of Boston's farm system have been lacking in quality catching prospects. It has Johanfran Garcia in Double-A, Luke Heyman in High-A and Franklin Primera in Single-A, but each of those players are a long way from a potential major league debut. The Red Sox traded for Adley Rutschman to bridge the gap between now and when one of their young catching prospects might be ready, but the former division rival hasn't been worth it so far.
Salas could've been a game-changer in the Sox's lineup. He batted .296/.374/.448 over 96 games between Double-A and Triple-A. Salas' defense is his real calling card, but his offense picked up to match it this season.
The Red Sox will soon get to see what they missed out on by refusing to trade Duran to the tenacious Padres.
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