I am pinch-hitting for Tim Dierkes on this week’s version of the MLBTR Mailbag. We’ll sort out questions on Jarren Duran and the Padres, Alex Bregman‘s opt-out standing, Donovan Solano and Tyler Locklear in Seattle, Masataka Yoshida, Brendan Donovan, some Giants rotation standouts, the Angels’ bullpen and extra!
Ross asks:
With the report that the Padres are occupied with Jarren Duran, what could be an affordable return for the Crimson Sox?
As we mentioned on the podcast this week, the Padres/Duran connection feels prefer it’s drawing a bit extra consideration than it ought to, at the least based mostly on the probabilities of him really altering arms (much more so if we particularly zero in on the Padres). That is to not say there is no probability of a Duran deal, however the Padres have a transparent want within the outfield and an ultra-aggressive baseball operations chief in A.J. Preller. It’d frankly be extra stunning in the event that they hadn’t inquired on Duran.
That mentioned, it is value diving right into a bit. Duran had a borderline MVP-caliber season final 12 months, hitting .285/.342/.492 with plus protection and elite baserunning. Baseball-Reference valued him at 8.7 wins above alternative. We have seen gamers named MVP with lesser WAR totals than that, however Duran was an afterthought within the 2024 race because of outrageously good seasons from Aaron Decide, Bobby Witt Jr. and (to a barely lesser extent) Juan Soto.
The Padres’ farm system was as soon as a powerhouse however is now top-heavy and missing depth. Shortstop Leo De Vries and catcher Ethan Salas are amongst MLB’s 25 finest prospects, however there’s not lots of different expertise within the hopper. It makes a deal tough to ascertain — for a number of causes.
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