Jarren Duran is an exciting player to watch, his story is inspirational, and he's clearly one of the emotional leaders of the Boston Red Sox. His 2024 campaign was everything Sox fans hoped for, and Duran completely made the leadoff spot in the lineup his to lose.
At the same time, Wilyer Abreu was establishing himself in the Red Sox lineup. While his 2024 campaign was a little up and down, thanks in large part to a freak injury after falling down the dugout stairs, Abreu still ended the season taking home a Gold Glove in right field. However, after a campaign that deserved more Rookie of the Year consideration, Abreu's name swirled around in trade rumors all offseason.
Clearly, Abreu heard the noise and wanted to put it all to bed right away. The right fielder has been one of the best players on the Red Sox over the first couple of weeks of the season — He's produced at a rate where Alex Cora should take the platoon shackles off of him, and let Abreu be an everyday outfielder. However, with all of this talent in the outfield, the logjam continues for guys like Roman Anthony, who is most likely going to be making his debut for the Red Sox this season.
So what should the Red Sox do? It may not be a popular opinion, but Duran could be placed on the trade block. It may feel a little crazy to trade an outfielder in his prime on a super cheap contract right now, but the value for Duran on the market is at an all-time high, and the Sox should strike while the iron is hot.
WHAT A DART FROM WILYER ABREU 🎯
— ESPN (@espn) April 7, 2025
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The Red Sox should help clear their outfield logjam by trading Jarren Duran while his value is at its peak
It's also clear that part of the Craig Breslow philosophy is to build around youth. Look at the extensions that have been signed during Breslow's tenure so far: Garrett Crochet (25), Kristian Campbell (22), Brayan Bello (25), and Ceddanne Rafaela (24).
With Abreu (25) performing well and the need to make space for the No. 2 prospect in all of baseball in Anthony (20), Breslow clearly wants to lock up the young talent coursing through the veins of this organization and continue to solidify the core moving forward, while at the same time keeping enough flexibility to splash on big free agents like Alex Bregman.
With this mindset, Duran just doesn't quite fit into the plans, and Breslow's lack of giving Duran a long-term deal shows that the phone lines may, in fact, be open on the 2024 All-Star. We've seen with players whose top attribute is their speed that the moment they start to lose their step, it's all downhill. It hasn't happened yet, but it has to be something that needs to be considered when looking at Duran's future. If Breslow wants to avoid being left holding the bag on Duran and allow his current young stars the space to fully develop, then Duran should get moved sooner rather than later.