{"id":844743,"date":"2026-08-05T19:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/844743\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T19:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:20:14","slug":"jarren-duran-explains-how-hes-mlbs-worst-player-expected-red-sox-release-at-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/844743\/","title":{"rendered":"Jarren Duran Explains How He&#8217;s MLB&#8217;s &#8216;Worst Player&#8217;, Expected Red Sox Release at Trade Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">Amid the flurry of deals made by the Boston Red Sox leading up to the trade deadline, Jarren Duran was not expecting to remain with the club after Monday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">Speaking to <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong mui-mlpnpn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/08\/04\/sports\/red-sox-duran-trade-deadline\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Speier<\/a> of the Boston Globe, Duran called himself the &#8220;worst player in MLB statistically&#8221; and expected he was going to be released by the Red Sox to make room on the roster for their new acquisitions: <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">&#8220;To be honest, I thought I was going to be released\u2026 I am the worst player in MLB statistically. I hate looking at the numbers but when you&#8217;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\u2026 I&#8217;m just thankful that I have the opportunity to continue this run with this team and this organization, and hopefully make a playoff push.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">It&#8217;s a little bit of an exaggeration to say Duran is statistically the worst player in MLB right now. His .203\/.259\/.354 slash line isn&#8217;t great, but his fWAR of 0.2 is only\u00a0<a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong mui-mlpnpn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/leaders\/major-league?pos=all&amp;stats=bat&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=y&amp;type=8&amp;season=2026&amp;month=0&amp;season1=2026&amp;ind=0&amp;pagenum=1&amp;pageitems=2000000000\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">136th out of 147<\/a>\u00a0qualified position players.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">The Red Sox dealt for Adley Rutschman, Erik Miller and Eli White on Monday. Those moves came on the heels of trading for Curtis Mead, who is\u00a0<a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong mui-mlpnpn\" href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25458769-curtis-meads-injury-timeline-revealed-new-rumors-red-sox-star-exited-1st-game-after-nats-trade\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">expected<\/a>\u00a0to miss at least six to eight weeks after breaking his wrist in his first game with Boston.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">White&#8217;s acquisition would be most relevant to Duran&#8217;s status since he&#8217;s also an outfielder, though hardly an obvious everyday starter thanks to a .285 on-base percentage in 69 games with the Atlanta Braves before the trade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">There is also the question of Roman Anthony&#8217;s health that also gave Duran some semblance of job security despite the trades. Anthony has been out of action since May 4 due to a torn finger tendon, but he is making progress in his rehab to the point that he\u00a0<a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong mui-mlpnpn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsboston.com\/mlb\/boston-red-sox\/roman-anthony-garrettcrochet-adley-rutschman-injury-updates\/798304\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">took batting practice<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">Even though there were trade rumblings about Duran throughout the summer, ESPN&#8217;s\u00a0<a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong mui-mlpnpn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/48958846\/mlb-2026-early-trade-deadline-preview-jeff-passan-30-teams-skubal-tigers-dodgers-yankees-brewers-braves\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Jeff Passan<\/a>\u00a0noted in June there was a &#8220;steep&#8221; difference in how he was viewed by the Red Sox compared to other teams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">That level of confidence from Boston helps explain why Duran remains an everyday player despite describing himself as the worst player in MLB.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">Another explanation is that the Red Sox have seen an extremely high level of performance from Duran not that long ago. He finished eighth in AL MVP voting in 2024 after hitting .285\/.342\/.492 in 160 games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">Even last season saw Duran hit a respectable .256\/.332\/.442 in 157 games. He is only 29 and under team control for two more years, so it&#8217;s not a surprise the Red Sox would want to give him every opportunity to get back on track.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium mui-m06sf4\">Given Boston&#8217;s recent surge up the standings, it could be more difficult for interim manager Chad Tracy to continue relying on Duran because the team has to put the best lineup on the field while making a push for the playoffs.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid the flurry of deals made by the Boston Red Sox leading up to the trade deadline, Jarren&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-844743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844743","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=844743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}