Jarren Duran Gets Real About Red Sox's Struggles As Trade Rumors Fly

Monday had to be a wild day to be Jarren Duran.

The Boston Red Sox's star outfielder woke up in the middle of an 0-for-16 slump. Then, Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported that the San Diego Padres were interested in acquiring him via trade, which set off an entire day's worth of speculation and predictions.

Duran managed to successfully block out the noise, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles on Monday night, but the Red Sox lost to the Los Angeles Angels 7-6. Boston is now a putrid 6-16 in games decided by one run.

After the loss, the 28-year-old was asked about that specific statistic and had an optimistic spin on what has become a doomsday trend for this Boston club.

“Personally, I think it says that we’re a really, really good team. And we’ve been in a lot of games, but we've just got to get over that hump,” Duran said on NESN.

"We've got a lot of young guys that are just learning to compete at this level. I know when I first came up at this level, I was scared to death to make a mistake and play, so I'm just trying to pass that on to the younger guys and be like, 'Hey, bro, you're going to be a big part of this, and just keep going."

At 29-33, the Red Sox unfortunately don't have the luxury of waiting much longer to get over that hump. And many have proposed a solution--calling up number-one prospect Roman Anthony--that will only make the Red Sox even younger and more inexperienced.

Duran has been the heart and soul of this team for a couple years now, and he's become a real clubhouse leader. The front office and manager Alex Cora will not come out and say they're considering trading him, because that would be an awful look.

But if Duran and his teammates really want to squash those rumors, they have to play better, plain and simple. Otherwise, there's still an outside chance a deal with the Padres (or another opportunistic contender) could happen.