The Boston Red Sox have a lot of decisions to make involving arbitration-eligible players this offseason.
MLB Trade Rumors shared its annual estimates for salaries for arbitration-eligible players and had 17 from Boston with the most interesting being speedy outfielder Jarren Duran. Duran has just two more seasons of team control left. So, naturally, the expectation is that there will be a bump from his $7.7 million deal he had in 2026. MLB Trade Rumors projected that his 2027 deal will be in the neighborhood of $11.1 million. When this surfaced, there were some in the Red Sox fanbase who speculated about the idea of non-tendering Duran after batting .207, rather than paying a price like that.
That chatter can stop now. Boston is expected to avoid what would have been a mistake. On Friday, MassLive.com's Sean McAdam shared a column touching on the arbitration-eligible players in the Red Sox organization and said that Duran will "no doubt" be tendered a deal. But that's not all.
The Red Sox Aren't Non-Tendering Jarren Duran
"Duran is now two years away from free agency," McAdam wrote. "He’s coming off his worst year (.207 BA, 76 OPS+) but still has value because of his combination of power (20 homers) and speed (21 steals) to go with above average defense. It’s widely expected that the Red Sox will look to deal him this winter, but he’ll no doubt be tendered."
The idea of the Red Sox shopping Duran this winter shouldn't surprise anyone. Trade rumors have swirled around Duran for years at this point. Boston still has an outfield logjam, despite this. In the majors, the Red Sox have Duran, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela. Plus, Masataka Yoshida, Eli White and potentially Jahmai Jones. Let's not forget about Kristian Campbell down in the minors as well. There's a lot of outfield talent in Boston, to say the least.
If the Red Sox non-tendered Duran, they'd lose him for nothing. He'd enter free agency and there surely would be interest in him, despite the tough 2026 season. This is a guy who just two years ago was a 9.0 WAR player and looked like a budding superstar. In 2025, he was a 4.9 WAR player, which is still very good. Duran is still just 30 years old. Someone would bet on being able to fix him. So, Boston absolutely should tender him a contract, even if it is in the neighborhood of $11 million. What is the worst thing that could happen? If the Red Sox are unable to trade him, they could try to get him back on track himself and then roll with one of the outfielders in the designated hitter spot.
Non-tendering Duran would've been a backwards idea, despite some of the chatter among fans around the team.
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