Trade rumors have circulated around Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran for months leading up to the trade deadline.
With just days until the deadline, the Red Sox attested they are no longer entertaining trade offers for Duran — injuries have changed the circumstances around the team's outfield logjam. Still, the San Diego Padres continue to call with interest in the outfielder.
The Red Sox may have a minimum price in mind when it comes to potentially trading Duran. The Pittsburgh Pirates may be able to meet it.
One of chief baseball officer Craig Breslow's initial priorities for the 2025 trade deadline was to secure pitchers with multiple years of control on their contracts. The Pirates have long been one of the clear sellers of this trade deadline, and few of their players appear off the table in discussions. Mitch Keller could be on the move before the clock hits 6 p.m. on July 31.
Red Sox and Pirates could make a deal involving Jarren Duran, Mitch Keller
According to MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, Pittsburgh remains undecided whether it will move Keller before the deadline. He thinks an enticing-enough offer would push them in the "trade" direction, and Duran could be part of a larger trade package to convince the Pirates to send Keller to Boston.
Keller, 29, signed a five-year, $77 million contract with the Pirates before the 2024 season. He has three and a half seasons of control remaining, including 2025, and he would be a solid, long-term, middle-of-the-rotation arm for the Red Sox.
Keller has posted a 3.69 ERA with 100 strikeouts and 33 walks in 127 innings. The righty hasn't registered a sub-four ERA since 2022, when he logged a 3.91 over 31 appearances, 29 of them starts. He's a seven-year MLB veteran, all of them with the Pirates organization.
Pirates GM Ben Cherington practically has to trade David Bednar and Mitch Keller, says @Ken_Rosenthal.
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) July 29, 2025
"You can envision a world if you were spending money, perhaps you build around those guys, but I just don't see that world existing." pic.twitter.com/A1JqArkMgW
If Pittsburgh doesn't want Paul Skenes to walk in free agency or to trade him before it gets to that point, it needs to build around him. It's been years since owner Bob Nutting and GM Ben Cherington have shown any inclination to spend on quality free agents, and trading Duran to the Pirates would be an instantaneous, relatively cheap way to spark their offense.
Duran is under contract until 2029, and his all-around regression from last season wouldn't demand as big a salary hike in arbitration as he was awarded for the 2025 season. If traded to the Pirates, he would immediately become the best hitter in their outfield, and his speed on the base paths would be deadly in front of the powerful Oneil Cruz in the lineup.
Boston may need to throw in a few more top prospects to entice Pittsburgh into a deal for Keller, or vice versa. The Sox still have more middle infielders than they know what to do with, and Breslow drafted pitchers well in 2024-25 — David Sandlin, Brandon Clarke, Payton Tolle, or someone else could replace Keller in the Pirates' rotation soon enough. If the Red Sox can nab Keller from the Pirates while clearing their long-term outfield logjam, they should make a move.