The Red Sox have avoided arbitration with All-Star outfielder Jarren Duran, agreeing to a $3.85 million guarantee for 2025 with an escalating club option for 2026.
Duran, 28, is coming off a breakout season in which he led the majors in doubles and triples. He was the All-Star Game MVP and finished eighth in AL MVP voting. After a turbulent first three years in the majors, the leadoff hitter finally lived up to the lofty expectations that followed his rapid rise through the minors.
This was Duran’s first year of arbitration eligibility. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Duran filed for a $4 million salary, the Red Sox countered at $3.5 million, and the two sides settled in the middle. Duran will receive a $3.75 million base salary this season with performance bonuses based on plate appearances. The deal also has a $100,000 buyout if the Red Sox decline their team option for 2026.
The option is for $8 million but includes escalators based on MVP votes, which could push the 2026 salary to $12 million.
Duran filed at $4M, the Red Sox at $3.5M. So if Duran hits his bonuses – likely as long as he stays healthy, he will get his $4M between his 2025 salary, option buyout and performance bonuses – and do even better if the team picks up the option.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 17, 2025
A seventh-round draft pick in 2018, Duran quickly emerged as a top prospect thanks to elite offensive numbers in the low minors. He added power during an impressive summer at the alternate site in 2020 (created after the minor-league season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and made his highly anticipated big-league debut in 2021. For two years, consistency eluded him. He was up and down from Triple A and did not make the Opening Day roster in 2023.
Called up in April 2023, Duran delivered his best major-league season to date — an .828 OPS while playing mostly against righties — before missing the final month and a half because of toe surgery.
Duran was the Red Sox’s Opening Day left fielder and leadoff hitter in 2024 and delivered a breakout season. Splitting time between left and center, Duran hit .285, slugged .492 and made his first All-Star Game in which he hit a tie-breaking, two-run homer off Cincinnati Reds starter Hunter Greene. He was suspended a month later for directing a homophobic slur at a fan. The two games he sat out were the only ones he didn’t play last season. He led the majors with 735 plate appearances.
Duran is expected to be in the Red Sox leadoff spot again this season and should primarily play left field. His defensive metrics were far better last season than in the past, and his sprint speed remains among the best in the game. In short, he’s emerged as an all-around offensive threat, part of a young position player core the Red Sox are hoping to build around.
(Photo: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)
