Players better than Duran this season:
Breggie
Raffy
Narvaez
Rafaela
Abreu (close, but he's been a MUCH better defender so I give it to him)
Players that could end up better than Duran if they continue their play:
Toro
Mayer
He still struggles with LHP and offspeed stuff. Just because he hit two dingers last night, doesn't mean he's figured that stuff out. It'll only be harder to learn that at the MLB level.
If Jesus H Christ showed up, he'd be able to turn the Gatorade into Blue Moon, fix Breggie's leg, feed all of Fenway with 6 Fenway Franks, but he'd pass on the rotation ills. Too hard!
I know we like to make fun of "Quality Start" a lot, but going 6 innings and giving up 3 or less goes a long way to giving your team a chance to win every game. It also saves your pen in the long run. All those 5.1 starts or less add up!
Of the 4 teams listed, PHI would be the best fit for Duran's game. He'd be great in that town and would hit a bunch more HR too. He was also drafted by the DD regime.
Some people live or die with every game. I didn't believe they had a legitimate chance of making a run this season, so I'm trying to be a little even keeled and looking long term at it (i.e. playing the younger guys, making in season moves to clear out roster logjam)