Jarren Duran, the Boston Red Sox’ 29-year-old outfielder, must be getting sick of hearing his name in trade discussions, even hypothetical ones. Despite chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s protestations to the contrary, though, a trade of the 2024 All-Star Game MVP seems inevitable.
With former No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony — who placed third in American League Rookie of the Year voting despite playing only 71 games — taking over full-time left-field duties, and a pair of Gold Glovers in Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu occupying center and right, respectively, Duran’s getting at-bats will pose a significant challenge to Boston manager Alex Cora.
The tensions that would be created by taking a player in Duran who has taken the field in 320 of a possible 327 games over the past two seasons and relegating him to a part-time role also seem unavoidable if the AL leader in triples stays on the club. That is why Duran has been linked to any number of teams in trade speculation, including in the past week the Kansas City Royals, as confirmed by veteran MLB insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
But on Wednesday, a longtime Red Sox insider — Boston reporter and columnist Rob Bradford of WEEI.com — suggested an unexpected destination for Duran: the New York Mets.
Appearing on the WEEI-affiliated Play Tessie podcast, Bradford said that the Mets were “champing at the bit” to trade their second-ranked pitching prospect — the No. 4 overall prospect in their system, per MLB Pipeline — 22-year-old Jonah Tong.
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“When you talk to people around the league, there’s this sense that the Mets believe his value might actually be higher now than it will be a year from now,” Bradford said on the podcast. “Because teams are projecting risk differently. They’re looking at age, innings, developmental path, all of it. And Jonah Tong checks a lot of boxes, but he also carries enough uncertainty that some teams would rather act now.”
Would the Mets trade Tong, who struck out 22 in his first 18 2/3 major league innings but compiled a 7.71 ERA, for Duran, and would the Red Sox be receptive if power-hitting third baseman Mark Vientos were included in the deal as well?
“It is a conversation starter. I don’t think it’s crazy, which I know will upset some people,” Bradford said. “From the Red Sox perspective, you’re talking about a controllable starter profile and a big-league bat with power.”
Vientos has belted 54 home runs in a four-year career spanning 313 games. Unless they re-sign free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, the Red Sox will be in the market for that position.
Bradford admitted that trading Duran, who has put together 13.4 bWAR over his most recent two seasons, comes with risk, because the outfielder’s “value is real, especially given the contract situation.”
Duran signed a $7.7 million contract with the Red Sox for the 2026 season and is not eligible to declare free agency until after the 2028 campaign.
Vientos will not be eligible for arbitration until after next season, and cannot become a free agent until the 2029 season wraps up. Tong’s stint with the Mets was short enough this season that 2026 will count as his rookie year.
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