Jarren Duran Avoids Arbitration; Trevor Story To Decline Opt-Out

[Matthew Lenz]

It's only the third day of the 2025-2026 Major League Baseball offseason, and the Boston Red Sox have already been busy making a variety of roster moves.

Yesterday, decisions were made regarding the future of Lucas Giolito and Alex Bregman with the club, and today, two more dominoes are falling into place.  Christopher Smith of MassLive is reporting that the team and Jarren Duran have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a 1-year, $7.7 million deal. Additionally, Trevor Story is expected to opt in after the Red Sox exercised their half of a mutual option.

Duran, who is controllable through 2028, has been a polarizing figure throughout his career. From multiple controversial comments to up-and-down performances, the 29-year-old has been the subject of trade rumors in the past, and those rumors may continue this offseason. In 2025, he carried an OPS of .774 with 16 home runs and 24 stolen bases across 696 plate appearances.

Story enjoyed a bounce-back season after a devastating injury in 2024. Missing only five games all season, he produced a .741 OPS with 25 home runs and 31 stolen bases. In all, he finished with a .320 wOBA and a 101 wRC+.

What are your thoughts on these deals? Do you think Duran could still get traded? Let us know in the comments!

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[Hitch]

One less headache.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Story surprised us all this season because Cora surprised us by never resting him. 

And he was so burnt out that in the playoffs, he led the Sox in hits and RBIs, with an OPS of 1.000.

More importantly in the postseason, Story led Boston in homer.

[Donnie Sadler was short]

It says the sox picked up the mutual option...does that mean that they added that 3rd year?

[moonslav59]

9 minutes ago, Donnie Sadler was short said:

It says the sox picked up the mutual option...does that mean that they added that 3rd year?

No. If Story had opted out, the Sox could have negated the opt out by giving him the 2028 option.

The Sox owe him $25M in '25 and '26, and that's it. (His tax hit is $23.33M)