The Philadelphia Phillies are less than a month away from the MLB trade deadline, and they still have plenty of needs to address. The bullpen remains a mess, and the outfield still has some serious question marks.
There is some doubt whether Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will add to the lineup at the July 31 deadline. But, if he elects to bring in a bat, one of the names that has surfaced in connection to the Phillies is dynamic Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran.
Jim Bowden of The Athletic recently released the results of a trade deadline poll of front office executives from around the league. He was interested in which players have the best chance to get traded this summer, and Duran was a popular choice (subscription required).
As Bowden notes, Duran has already been linked with the Phillies, along with the San Diego Padres, in trade talks.
With Jarren Duran expected to be traded by the Red Sox, a Phillies deal would reunite him with Dave Dombrowski
Duran, 28, was drafted by the Red Sox in 2018 while Dombrowski was still the team's president of baseball operations. So, if the Phillies do indeed pull the trigger on a deal this month for the former seventh-round pick, it will be somewhat of a reunion. Duran never played for the major league team while Dombrowski was still there (he was let go in 2019 and Duran didn't debut until 2021).
Duran was an All-Star in 2024, even getting some AL MVP votes, but isn't having a great follow-up year, which might help temper Boston's ask in a deadline deal. He is under team control and is arbitration eligible through 2028, however.
Whether the Phillies will want to add yet another left-handed bat who isn't having a great season remains to be seen. He's batting .254 with a .727 OPS, six home runs and 15 stolen bases in 86 games. He's striking out at a 23.9 percent clip, and walking 6.6 percent of the time.
The Red Sox have been scuffling since the mind-boggling Rafael Devers trade, going 6-8 with a bottom-third (93 wRC+) offense and middling pitching results (4.21 ERA). Despite being just 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, they have a surge of young position players they are trying to fit into their plans, so Duran might be the obvious piece out the door.
With trade deadline rumors and speculation starting to ramp up, we are sure to hear more and more names floating around the media scape. The clock is ticking for the Phillies to make the moves that will push them back to the World Series one more time with this current group.