Red Sox avoid arbitration with OF coming off monster season

The Red Sox announced Friday that they’ve agreed to a one-year deal with outfielder Jarren Duran, avoiding arbitration. The BJB Group client reportedly receives a $3.85M guarantee on a complex deal that also contains 2025 incentives and an $8M club option for 2026 that can climb as high as $12M based on escalators. Duran will be paid a $3.75M salary, and the 2026 option comes with a $100K buyout.

Duran is already under club control through the 2028 season as a Super Two player. Even if the 2026 option is bought out — which would occur if the Red Sox feel his projected price in the arb process checked in south of the eventual option value — he would remain arbitration-eligible with the Sox for another three seasons. With Duran’s salary now locked in, the Red Sox have avoided arbitration hearings with their entire class (Duran, Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford).

In addition to his 2025 guarantee, Duran will earn $50K bonuses for reaching 450, 500 and 550 plate appearances. So long as he’s healthy, he should get the $4M salary at which he filed. (The Red Sox had countered with a $3.5M submission.)

As for the 2026 option, the base price will reportedly jump to $9M if Duran finishes between 11th and 20th in AL MVP voting. (He finished eighth on the MVP ballot this past season.) It’ll be a $10M option if he finishes between sixth and 10th or an $11MM option if he lands second through fifth. If Duran is named the American League’s Most Valuable Player, the price of that option would jump to $12M. If Duran is traded at any point between now and season’s end, the option would be eliminated and he’d receive a $100K assignment bonus from the acquiring team rather than the $100K buyout on said option.

Duran, who turned 28 in September, broke out with a monster 2024 showing this past season. In 735 trips to the plate, he logged a massive .285/.342/.492 batting line (129 wRC+) with 21 home runs, 48 doubles, 14 triples and 34 stolen bases (in 41 tries). The former top prospect walked at a career-best (but still below-average) 7.3% clip and slashed his strikeout rate to a lower-than-average 21.8%. For a player who punched out in 35.7% of his 112 plate appearances during 2021’s MLB debut, he’s made remarkable strides in his contact ability and swing decisions.

The Red Sox, like virtually every big league club, adopt the “file and trial” approach wherein they cut off negotiations on strict one-year deals after exchanging figures with a player. (The Cubs, notably, broke the near leaguewide file-and-trial approach to sign Kyle Tucker to a one-year deal Thursday.) The inclusion of a 2026 option on the contract, however, means that for arbitration purposes, Duran’s agreement is considered a multi-year deal. That option renders the Duran contract ineligible/inadmissible as a comp or data point in future negotiations (for the Sox and other teams) in one-year arbitration talks with other players.

Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com first reported Duran’s salary and option value, bringing the total guarantee to $3.85MM. The 2026 option can climb as high as $12MM based on escalators tied to MVP voting and All-MLB honors, per Cotillo, Robert Murray of FanSided and Mark Feinsand of MLB.com added various financial details, while Alex Speier of the Boston Globe first reported the full breakdown of Duran’s option escalators.