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The Boston Red Sox already made the biggest trade of the season when they moved on from Rafael Devers. The team they traded the third baseman/designated hitter to the San Francisco Giants. Clearly, the two are comfortable doing business together. ESPN lists the two best players on the trading block as Alex Bregman and Jarren Duran, both of whom play for the Red Sox. While it is far from a guarantee that either of them gets traded, the Giants actually would make sense to work with again in a trade involving Duran.
Giants' trade proposal for Jarren Duran
Red Sox receive: Carson Whisenhunt (Giants No. 2), Rayner Arias (Giants No. 7), Carson Ragsdale (Giants No. 21)
Giants receive: Jarren Duran
Their trade for Devers proves that the Giants are all in. They play in a stacked National League West that includes the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, both of which are loaded with star talent. The Giants shouldn't stop making moves, even after adding their Dominican slugger.
The Giants are currently 44-35. They are only narrowly ahead of San Diego in the standings, and Los Angeles is quickly pulling away. While the team's outfield of Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee, and Mike Yastrzemski has been solid, it hasn't been great, so they could use an upgrade. Duran broke onto the scene as one of the best outfielders in baseball last season.
Duran played elite defensive en route to his first All-Star appearance last year. He also killed it with the bat, as he hit 21 home runs while maintaining a .285 batting average. His 48 doubles and 14 triples led the NL, too. His numbers are slightly down this year, but he has still already hit eight triples. Duran is a speed threat who can hit for both power and contact. He'd give the Giants a four-headed outfield monster and better their chances of winning this year's World Series. Plus, he obviously has familiarity with the recently traded for Devers.
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It didn't take a huge prospect haul to acquire Devers due to his shaky relationship with the Red Sox. Even though Devers is the superior player to Duran, the Giants can afford to give up a few more high-quality minor leaguers from their farm system this go around if they were to deal with Boston again.
Is Jarren Duran or Alex Bregman more likely to be moved?
Neither Bregman nor Duran is all that likely to be moved. ESPN gives it just a 10% chance that the third baseman will be traded this year, whereas the outfielder has only a 25% chance of being moved. Bregman is unlikely to be traded because he signed a three-year, $120 million deal this past offseason. Not only does that contract carry a high average annual value, but Bregman could opt out of the deal at season's end, and the idea of him being a rental could scare teams off.
Duran, meanwhile, isn't headed to unrestricted free agency until 2029. The Red Sox may want to move him while he still has tons of value, as his breakout campaign last season could be looked at as a fluke if he doesn't pick it up soon. Even so, the Red Sox have no need to blow things up, so they'd be better off holding onto Duran.
The team is just outside of the playoff picture, and a few buyers' moves could get them firmly in the hunt for a wild-card spot. Devers was traded not because Boston is looking to rebuild, but because his relationship with the Red Sox was fractured after they forced him to change positions. Don't expect either Bregman or Duran to be dealt before the trade deadline.
