Red Sox Could Cut Ties With $3.5 Million All-Star Via Royals Trade, Per Insiders

The Major League Baseball trade deadline will be a hugely important milestone for the Kansas City Royals in 2025.

Though the season hasn't gone as the Royals planned, they're far from buried in the postseason race. Entering play on Tuesday, Kansas City is only 2 1/2 games out of the third American League Wild Card spot. But they'll need some help at the deadline to make a true playoff push.

The dream addition for the Royals would be an outfielder who can double as an offensive spark plug. Extra-base power is lacking, and more than anything, they need someone who can carry the team for a few games if Bobby Witt Jr. enters a bit of a slump, which has been more common in 2025 than 2024.

On Tuesday, ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel opened the door to the possibility that the Royals could find such a spark plug.

In their trade deadline preview, Passan and McDaniel named the Royals as a "best fit" for Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, who they assigned a 25 percent chance of being dealt ahead of Jul. 31.

"Duran had a huge breakout season in 2024, posting the seventh-best WAR in the majors at 6.7. He overperformed his underlying metrics, though -- i.e. had some lucky outcomes -- and those metrics have regressed a bit this year," the authors wrote.

"Now he's underperforming them -- he has been unlucky -- so his true talent is somewhere south of that star-level 6.7 figure but better than the roughly 2 WAR (commensurate with a solid regular) he's on pace for this season."

Duran's June has been frustrating, with a .659 OPS to this point. He's seen his teammate Rafael Devers get traded and he's heard his own name in trade rumors on a daily basis. Might a fresh start, be it in Kansas City or elsewhere, actually do him some good?

The real bonus for the Royals would be getting to take over the final 3 1/2 years of Duran's arbitration. He's making $3.5 million this season with an $8 million club option next year, so that's the most he can realistically be paid, then there would be two more cost-controlled seasons.

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