Red Sox at trade deadline: San Diego still after Jarren Duran, Garrett Crochet pushed back

New York Times

6 days ago

MINNEAPOLIS — As the trade deadline enters its final 24 hours, Jarren Duran's name is still squarely in the mix, with the San Diego Padres continuing to pursue the outfielder.
One National League evaluator noted the Padres' extreme interest in Duran and cited San Diego general manager AJ Preller's 'aggressiveness' as a reason he felt a deal could get done.
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Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has said publicly he does not feel the need to trade from his group of four young, controllable outfielders, but Preller could force his hand. With the market at a standstill for controllable starters, the Red Sox might shift their interest to rental starters, and San Diego's Dylan Cease is available. Boston wouldn't trade Duran just for Cease, who has a 4.79 ERA in 22 starts, but if San Diego included top prospect infielder Leodalis De Vries, the Red Sox would consider it. The Athletic's Keith Law ranks De Vries as the No. 13 prospect in baseball.
The Padres believe they might be one of the only teams that can still get Duran at the deadline. The Red Sox know that and have stood pat, with one NL evaluator noting the game of chicken played by teams at this time of year.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers could put themselves in the Duran equation, if only to drive up the asking price for their NL West division opponent, but as of Wednesday afternoon, Los Angeles was not in the mix for Duran, according to a league source.
If the trade rumors swirling over the past week have been any distraction for Duran, who drove in four runs in a 13-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, it hasn't shown at the plate.
Smile if you have 4-RBI today. 😁 pic.twitter.com/KazyIls1YH
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 30, 2025
On a related note, Duran has hit leadoff for much of the last two seasons, with Rob Refsnyder mixed in at the top spot against tough lefties over the past month. However, last weekend, manager Alex Cora started hitting rookie Roman Anthony in the top spot, moving Duran to third. Wednesday marked the fourth straight game in which Anthony has hit leadoff, tying the longest stretch of games that Duran has not been in the top spot.
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The moves have strengthened the lineup, but it's not out of the question that the Red Sox, in listening to offers on Duran, have wanted to prepare Anthony for the big-league leadoff spot in the event of a Duran trade. Anthony hit leadoff throughout his minor-league career, so the position is not new to him. Unsurprisingly, he's had little trouble with it, going 6-for-15 since the move, and his presence would make a tough decision about trading Duran slightly easier for the Red Sox.
Adding a backup catcher has been a tertiary priority for the Red Sox, behind the club's desire to add pitching and at first base.
Impending free-agent Christian Vázquez is a veteran catcher who would bolster the club's defense, though he offers little on offense.
Vázquez spent eight seasons in Boston but was traded in 2022 at the deadline to the Houston Astros in exchange for Enmanuel Valdez and Wilyer Abreu, Boston's current starting right fielder.
A reunion, with Vázquez serving as backup for rookie starting catcher Carlos Narváez, could work, though one evaluator noted there hasn't been much traction on that front. Boston's backup catcher, Connor Wong, is amid a rough season, hitting just .165 with a .434 OPS, though Vázquez, at .185 with a .519 OPS, isn't hitting much better.
'He has struggled offensively, and he hasn't played much,' Cora said when asked generally about Vázquez. 'He's a veteran guy — been there, done that — and has two World Series rings. I don't know where (the Twins are) at in that respect, but where he's at contract-wise probably makes sense for teams.'
Crochet was set to make his next start Friday at home against Houston, but he will be pushed back to Monday or Tuesday to give him a few extra days of recovery.
At 141 1/3 innings, Crochet leads the majors but is also just five innings shy of his career high in innings from last year. In the second half of last season, which marked his first year as a starter and first year back from Tommy John surgery, Chicago limited Crochet to four-inning starts.
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The Red Sox do not plan to implement any kind of restriction, but they'll build in periodic rest days.
At the end of May, Crochet was put on an 85-pitch count in one start but told the team if it wanted to monitor his workload at various points, he'd prefer a few extra days' rest rather than a shorter start, acknowledging that those starts tax the bullpen. With a few extra days' rest and the off day Thursday, every other starter will work on normal rest rather than get an extra day.
'I feel guilty doing it to the guys,' Crochet said. 'But that's what we're all here for. We're here to pick each other up and pull for one another.'
Crochet will continually adjust his workload between starts to ensure he's strong down the stretch.
'We viewed this as a good time to kind of catch my breath a little bit,' Crochet said. 'Not really a deload, but a little bit in that sense. I kind of knew throughout the season that we would try to find that rest for me if we could.'
Even with his innings climbing, Crochet said, at this point in the season, he feels better than expected. He's uncertain how often the team will work in periodic extra rest for him but noted it will depend on where the team stands in the playoff hunt.
'Before we kind of really get in the heat of August and September and while off days are still packed, we're still kind of able to do this without throwing everyone else off-schedule,' he said.
Meanwhile, Kyle Harrison, acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, is in line to start at Triple A on Friday, and a team source said he is an option to be recalled to make his first start for the Red Sox.
Harrison has a 4.56 ERA in eight games and four starts, but he has a 2.03 ERA in his last four starts.
Walker Buehler is in line to pitch Saturday, and Lucas Giolito on Sunday.
(Photo of Jarren Duran: Bruce Kluckhohn / Imagn Images)