{"id":422129,"date":"2026-01-18T23:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T23:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/422129\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T23:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T23:26:09","slug":"red-sox-royals-3-for-1-mock-trade-brings-all-star-to-kansas-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/422129\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox-Royals 3-For-1 Mock Trade Brings All-Star To Kansas City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">The Kansas City Royals were one of the more surprising teams in baseball during the 2024 season, but they took a massive step back last season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">As a result, they&#8217;re going to need to add a big bat or two at the top of their lineup. There are a few solid options on the trade block, but there&#8217;s one name that stands out above the rest.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">If you like our content,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Just Baseball&#8217;s Jordan Leandre <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justbaseball.com\/mlb\/trade-packages-red-sox-outfielder-jarren-duran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">put together a mock trade<\/a> that would send Kris Bubic, Blake Mitchell, and David Shields to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for outfielder Jarren Duran this winter.<\/p>\n<p>Jarren Duran is the obvious trade target for the Royals<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/01kf9exjkf3dns9t7dwd.jpg\" alt=\"Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Dura\" title=\"Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Dura\" width=\"5378\" height=\"3025\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6t\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Oct 2, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran (16) breaks his bat as he lines out during the first inning against the New York Yankees during game three of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6x\">&#8220;The prize here is still Bubic. Despite constant injuries, including one to his rotator cuff that ended his 2025 campaign, this southpaw is a stud,&#8221; Leandre wrote. &#8220;While not in the same way as Crochet, Bubic\u00a0avoids the barrel, getting opposing hitters to expand the zone and frequently whiff. He\u2019s an expiring contract with injury issues, but he\u2019s a very talented arm. He\u2019s not Cole Ragans, but the Royals won\u2019t trade Cole Ragans! <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"70\">&#8220;In a best-case scenario, Bubic gives the Red Sox the best rotation in baseball. If injuries continue to give him trouble, Boston has more than enough depth to survive. Shields gives the Red Sox yet another lefty pitching prospect. So far as a pro, he\u2019s been a high-strikeout, low-walk arm. He\u2019s not flashy, but the Red Sox adore projectable lefty arms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">The first thing to note with this mock trade is that it&#8217;s an overpay by the Royals. It would likely cost Kansas City one less player than Leandre suggests.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">Either way, the idea of trading a pitcher like Bubic alongside prospects to land Duran makes perfect sense. This would push both teams in the direction they want to go.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">The Royals would land the star outfielder to pair alongside Bobby Witt Jr. at the top of their lineup. Duran would be a perfect fit in Kansas City&#8217;s massive outfield, too.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">The Red Sox would land another pitcher to add to the top of their rotation. The addition of Bubic would solidify Boston&#8217;s rotation at the top of the league after signing Ranger Su\u00e1rez and trading for Sonny Gray.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">More MLB: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/royals\/onsi\/news\/royals-hit-jackpot-landed-kansas-city-s-next-5-tool-star-zach3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Royals Hit Jackpot, Landed Kansas City&#8217;s Next 5-Tool Star<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kansas City Royals were one of the more surprising teams in baseball during the 2024 season, but&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-422129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}