Jarren Duran "Unlikely To Land" With Kansas City Royals.

[Matthew Lenz]

The Boston Red Sox have had an eventful and mostly successful offseason. While it's easy to focus on the whiff on Alex Bregman, the Red Sox have been able to significantly improve their rotation and add Willson Contreras to their roster. On Friday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic provided an update on a player who's been involved in trade rumors for months.

Rosenthal of The Athletic is reporting that the Kansas City Royals are "unlikely to land" Jarren Duran. For a long time, the Royals and Red Sox seemed destined to make a deal, as one side had pitching to offer and the other needed pitching. However, this recent update suggests the Royals are satisfied, rolling with the options they currently have on their roster.

This is all not to say that the Red Sox still won't try to move Duran, as they still have a traffic jam in the outfield with Masataka Yoshida, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu, along with Duran. That's five guys for three outfield spots and a DH. All the while, the Red Sox are still looking for help in the infield - specifically, third base.

While most of the rumors had the targeting pitching in a trade, they may need to shift their sights to players who can play on the dirt.

Of the five options, who do you think the Red Sox should try to move? Let us know in the comments!

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[notin]

At this point, maybe Duran to DH, Yoshida to the bench (or Worcester) and trade Bello for an infielder…

[JoeBrady]

20 minutes ago, notin said:

At this point, maybe Duran to DH,

With the addition of Suarez, I'm more open to the idea of keeping Duran and trading Yoshi.  But I'd need to see some health from Casas.

[notin]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

With the addition of Suarez, I'm more open to the idea of keeping Duran and trading Yoshi.  But I'd need to see some health from Casas.

I don’t see that as an easy task.  Especially for getting an infielder.  I think Breslow has been trying.

Trade Bello for an infielder.  Move Yoshida to the bench or Worcester (he has options)…

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

With the addition of Suarez, I'm more open to the idea of keeping Duran and trading Yoshi.  But I'd need to see some health from Casas.

Romy & Campbell are decent depth options at DH.

I kinda like the idea of keeping the best offensive team we can, and that includes Duran. I like Bello, too, but Bello for Paredes and King works for me. (Adding Janek would make it a no brainer.)

1. L Anthony LF

2. R Contreras 1B

3. L Duran DH

4. R Paredes 3B

5. L Abreu RF

6. R Story SS

7. R Narvaez C

8. L Mayer/R Romy 2B

9. R Rafaela C

[Jean-Sébastien Blouin]

Il y a 37 minutes, moonslav59 a déclaré :

Romy & Campbell sont de bonnes options de profondeur au poste de DH.

J’aime bien l’idée de garder la meilleure équipe offensive possible, et ça inclut Duran. J’aime aussi Bello, mais Bello pour Paredes et King me convient. (Ajouter Janek rendrait la décision évidente.)

1. L. Anthony LF

2. R Contreras 1B

3. L Duran DH

4. R Paredes 3B

5. L Abreu RF

6. R Story SS

7. R Narvaez C

8. L Mayer/R Romy 2B

9. R Rafaela C

 

Edited January 18 by Jean-Sébastien Blouin
This isn't the place where I wanted to write it

[Jean-Sébastien Blouin]

Why trade Bello? He is a good pitcher. Why trade him? He doesn't cost that much, and why trade him if the team signed him long-term?

[Larry Cook]

28 minutes ago, Jean-Sébastien Blouin said:

Why trade Bello? He is a good pitcher. Why trade him? He doesn't cost that much, and why trade him if the team signed him long-term?

I agree 100 percent. I like our roster as is for 2026! 

[JoeBrady]

33 minutes ago, Jean-Sébastien Blouin said:

Why trade Bello? He is a good pitcher. Why trade him? He doesn't cost that much, and why trade him if the team signed him long-term?

Just imho, I think we have guys that can do most of what Bello does.  Can Bello out-perform Sandoval, Oviedo, Tolle & Early by more than, say Paredes will out-perform Romy/DHam?

[moonslav59]

I'm not for trading Bello.

[notin]

The Sox have the following SPs on the 40 man roster

Houck

Crochet

Bello

Crawford

Sandoval

Gray

Early

Tolle

Oviedo

Harrison

Bennett

Drohan

Uberstine

 

And thats not counting Suarez, which will bring the Sox to 14 starting pitchers.  Granted, Houck is out and a few likely become relievers.  But that’s a lot of roster spots dedicated to SP.

To me, Bello is the perfect storm of “good enough to get something but not so good he will be missed.”

 

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, notin said:

To me, Bello is the perfect storm of “good enough to get something but not so good he will be missed.”

Kimmi going to yell at me, given the usual 'you can't have too much pitching'. which is almost always correct.  But just for fun, without a lot of faith (projection warning), FG projects:

• Bello  4.39
• Oviedo  4.25
• Sandoval  3.81
• Crawford  4.14
• Tolle  3.91
• Early  3.54

He feels replaceable.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, notin said:

The Sox have the following SPs on the 40 man roster

Houck

Crochet

Bello

Crawford

Sandoval

Gray

Early

Tolle

Oviedo

Harrison

Bennett

Drohan

Uberstine

 

And thats not counting Suarez, which will bring the Sox to 14 starting pitchers.  Granted, Houck is out and a few likely become relievers.  But that’s a lot of roster spots dedicated to SP.

To me, Bello is the perfect storm of “good enough to get something but not so good he will be missed.”

 

He should bring back the most in return out of the others in consideration, but for good reason: he's the better bet at having a plus 2026 season.

[moonslav59]

24 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Kimmi going to yell at me, given the usual 'you can't have too much pitching'. which is almost always correct.  But just for fun, without a lot of faith (projection warning), FG projects:

• Bello  4.39
• Oviedo  4.25
• Sandoval  3.81
• Crawford  4.14
• Tolle  3.91
• Early  3.54

He feels replaceable.

Fangraphs also projects this:

fWAR/IP

1.8/156 Bello

1.2/114 Oviedo

0.9/80 Sandoval

0.6/86 Crawford

0.6/49 Early

0.5/51  Tolle

0.2/49 Harrison

Sure, some of these guys project to equal or better fWARs if you even up the IP and project the same value, but it doesn't always work out that way

BTV has these values per season for our pitchers:

$40M Crochet, $32M Gray, ??? Ranger

$20M Bello

$18M Sandoval (pretty close, but really?)

$13M Early, $9M Tolle, $8M Oviedo, $5M Harrison

I don't think we should need to give up Duran or Bello for Paredes. BTV has Crawford worth way more than IP.

If we could get Paredes, King plus once from Abreu, Sousa or Janek for Bello, I'd do it. I might do it for IP & King alone. Only because I really like IP and BK.

[Malcolm White]

The Sox now have a ground-ball staff and pretty good ground-ball pickers, but 3B is a priority in a park where teams load their order with RH batters.  Bello is one of those ground-ball guys, and his contract going forward is a bargain. If their depth of starters wasn't this good, I'd hold onto him.

But...

The Astros are starving for pitching -- besides Brown, they have a bunch of guys worth >1 WAR. The Cubs' rotation is better but aging--three of their starters are 33+. The Mets' rotation isn't dominating or deep.

All three teams have a 3B who would help--Paredes, Matt Shaw in CHI or Brett Baty.  Shaw's a terrific fielder with five years of control; Paredes a good hitter with a below-average glove, and Baty is likely the Mets' top option at 3B given their unhappiness with Vientos.

That makes Duran. Abreu AND Bello available; all are overpays for these three 3B.  Breslow is waiting for a crisis, which usually means pitches who get hurt. I believe he'll wait until somebody gives him the 2B or 3B with a good glove and good-enough bat.

 

 

 

 

 

[mvp 78]

18 minutes ago, Malcolm White said:

The Sox now have a ground-ball staff and pretty good ground-ball pickers, but 3B is a priority in a park where teams load their order with RH batters.  Bello is one of those ground-ball guys, and his contract going forward is a bargain. If their depth of starters wasn't this good, I'd hold onto him.

But...

The Astros are starving for pitching -- besides Brown, they have a bunch of guys worth >1 WAR. The Cubs' rotation is better but aging--three of their starters are 33+. The Mets' rotation isn't dominating or deep.

All three teams have a 3B who would help--Paredes, Matt Shaw in CHI or Brett Baty.  Shaw's a terrific fielder with five years of control; Paredes a good hitter with a below-average glove, and Baty is likely the Mets' top option at 3B given their unhappiness with Vientos.

That makes Duran. Abreu AND Bello available; all are overpays for these three 3B.  Breslow is waiting for a crisis, which usually means pitches who get hurt. I believe he'll wait until somebody gives him the 2B or 3B with a good glove and good-enough bat.

Considering Bello's contract, Shaw is probably worth more in a trade due to how cheap he is. Bello would go up to 4/12.5 AAV or so. If he was still on an arb number, he may have more value in a trade than with the additional years of control. The years of control are good if you want to retain Bello and think he's going to outperform the deal (i.e. be a #2). 

They should probably work out a deal for one of the OFers and Paredes as it makes sense for the roster, but HOU would probably rather deal for a pitcher if I had to guess. Sox overvalue Duran, so I wonder what it'll take to move him. 

 

 

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Malcolm White said:

Shaw's a terrific fielder with five years of control

Is it only 5 years?  He has 162 days of service time.  Past that, if I thought his 2025 stats were legit (3% EV), I'd trade Bello for him.

[notin]

1 hour ago, Malcolm White said:

The Sox now have a ground-ball staff and pretty good ground-ball pickers, but 3B is a priority in a park where teams load their order with RH batters.  Bello is one of those ground-ball guys, and his contract going forward is a bargain. If their depth of starters wasn't this good, I'd hold onto him.

But...

The Astros are starving for pitching -- besides Brown, they have a bunch of guys worth >1 WAR. The Cubs' rotation is better but aging--three of their starters are 33+. The Mets' rotation isn't dominating or deep.

All three teams have a 3B who would help--Paredes, Matt Shaw in CHI or Brett Baty.  Shaw's a terrific fielder with five years of control; Paredes a good hitter with a below-average glove, and Baty is likely the Mets' top option at 3B given their unhappiness with Vientos.

That makes Duran. Abreu AND Bello available; all are overpays for these three 3B.  Breslow is waiting for a crisis, which usually means pitches who get hurt. I believe he'll wait until somebody gives him the 2B or 3B with a good glove and good-enough bat.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m ok with Paredes,

Baty is a left-handed line drive hitter.  If you like that profile, Hes not bad.

Shaw is a terrific defensive player who did have a .839 OPS in the second half last.  But strikes me as a selfish douchebag…

[JoeBrady]

47 minutes ago, notin said:

But strikes me as a selfish douchebag…

Any issues?

[notin]

1 minute ago, JoeBrady said:

Any issues?

I prefer not to get too political, but he skipped out on his team during a pennant race to attend Charlie Kirk’s funeral/political rally.  It would be one thing if he grew up with Kirk or had some connection beyond that, but he prioritized his politics over his team, and in a way even more selfish than the anti-vaxers not allowed into Canada.

This response hedges into territory that has a very negative history on this board.  So if you’re. Going to respond, rather than focus on the specifics of Shaw’s actions, at a bare minimum ignore the side and his views and focus solely on their priority over baseball, his job…

[JoeBrady]

25 minutes ago, notin said:

I prefer not to get too political, but he skipped out on his team during a pennant race to attend Charlie Kirk’s funeral/political rally.  It would be one thing if he grew up with Kirk or had some connection beyond that, but he prioritized his politics over his team, and in a way even more selfish than the anti-vaxers not allowed into Canada.

This response hedges into territory that has a very negative history on this board.  So if you’re. Going to respond, rather than focus on the specifics of Shaw’s actions, at a bare minimum ignore the side and his views and focus solely on their priority over baseball, his job…

Even as a RW moderate, I disagree with his actions.  One can agree/disagree with CK without taking a day off.  That said, I wouldn't expect his politics to be an issue with his teammates.

[notin]

13 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Even as a RW moderate, I disagree with his actions.  One can agree/disagree with CK without taking a day off.  That said, I wouldn't expect his politics to be an issue with his teammates.

Maybe. Maybe not.

I know it didn’t go over with many fans.  Many probably were specific to the politics. I disagreed with his commitment…

[moonslav59]

Too bad Baty doesn't bat RH'd, but that should not be the reason to say no.

I do prefer Paredes over any other talked about additions, including E Suarez, who has been mentioned more by me than by anyone else.

BTV does not accept Duran & Hicks for Paredes, unless HOU adds value (Sousa, King, Abreu, Janek?) 

[notin]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Too bad Baty doesn't bat RH'd, but that should not be the reason to say no.

I do prefer Paredes over any other talked about additions, including E Suarez, who has been mentioned more by me than by anyone else.

BTV does not accept Duran & Hicks for Paredes, unless HOU adds value (Sousa, King, Abreu, Janek?) 

Bello for Paredes and Janek…

[notin]

16 minutes ago, notin said:

Bello for Paredes and Janek…

Then sign Jonah Heim, just because it stops Craig from looking for backup catchers. 

C: Narvaez

1b: Contreras

2b: Mayer

3b: Paredes

SS: Story

LF: Duran

CF: Rafaela

RF: Abreu

DH: Anthony 

Bench: Heim, Gonzalez, Hamilton, Yoshida (Wong to Worcester for now)

SP: Crochet/Suarez/Gray/Sandoval/Crawford (Oviedo)

BP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Hicks, Moran, Harrison, Watson

DFA: Sogard (to add Sánchez).  Heim gets signed/added after Houck is placed on the 60 day IL).

[JoeBrady]

45 minutes ago, notin said:

2b: Mayer

3b: Paredes

Any thought to Paredes at 2nd and Mayer at 3rd?  On paper, Paredes grades out similarly at both positions.  If that was the case, and assuming 3B is Mayer's long-term position, better to get him settled there.

[notin]

13 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Any thought to Paredes at 2nd and Mayer at 3rd?  On paper, Paredes grades out similarly at both positions.  If that was the case, and assuming 3B is Mayer's long-term position, better to get him settled there.

I can let Cora make that call…