Jarren Duran: ‘I thought I was going to be released’ by Red Sox

​Amid the flurry of moves that the Red Sox made on Monday ahead of MLB’s trade deadline, outfielder Jarren Duran ultimately stayed put on an evening where Boston subtracted from both its big-league roster and its prospect pool.​

It was a development that Duran himself wasn’t sure was going to be the case, as he indicated in a candid conversation with Alex Speier of The Boston Globe on Tuesday. 

“To be honest, I thought I was going to be released,” Duran told Speier on Tuesday. “I am the worst player in MLB statistically. I hate looking at the numbers but when you’re going bad, you look at the numbers and it was pretty obvious how bad I was. I thought I was going to be released.

“There were a couple times where I yelled at [interim manager Chad Tracy], like, ‘I shouldn’t be playing! What are you guys [expletive] doing? I shouldn’t even be in this lineup.’ And then something good would happen, and Trace would be like, ‘That’s why you’re in the [expletive] lineup!’ ”

As Duran noted, it’s been a difficult year for the 29-year-old outfielder, who entered Tuesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox batting just .200 with a .257 on-base percentage.

He did club a towering solo shot against White Sox starter Davis Martin in the first inning of Tuesday’s eventual 14-2 win over Chicago and is still in line for a potential 20-20 season (15 home runs, 16 stolen bases) despite his extended struggles at the plate.

Still, it’s been a sizable step back from Duran, who was looking like a franchise pillar after a breakout campaign in 2024.

Beyond his offensive backslide, Duran has also drawn criticism for some of his outbursts on the field — headlined by his evident displeasure at either teammate Willson Contreras or third-base coach Chad Epperson after Contreras didn’t try to tag up from third during a game against the Athletics last week.

Duran was linked to several trade rumors in the days leading up to Monday’s deadline, with Boston’s move to bring in yet another outfielder in Eli White via trade raising even more eyebrows about Duran’s standing on the roster — especially if Roman Anthony makes a return in the next month or so. 

But Boston opted to keep Duran for the stretch run — a scenario that the streaky outfielder expressed gratitude for in his conversation with Speier.

“I thought that I wasn’t going to be here, which was understandable the way I’ve been playing,” Duran noted. “I’m just thankful that I have the opportunity to continue this run with this team and this organization, and hopefully make a playoff push.”

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.

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