Boston baseball operations chief Craig Breslow has been open about his aim to add a reliable No. 2 starter behind ace Garrett Crochet in the rotation. Only Crochet made more than 30 starts in 2025 — or more than 28, for that matter — on the Red Sox staff. At the same time, outside of Crochet’s American League third-best 2.59 ERA, the lowest ERA on Boston’s starting staff belonged to Brayan Bello at 3.35 over 166 2/3 innings pitched.
At the same time, the Giants need outfielders who can generate offense.
Centerfielder Jung Hoo Lee was their most productive hitter in the outfield with just a .735 OPS. The Red Sox have outfielders to spare, and none have appeared in more trade discussions than 29-year-old Jarren Duran, who posted a .774 OPS this season with 16 home runs and an AL-best 13 triples.
Duran is due to more than double his salary next year, with an $8 million club option after pulling in $3.75 million in 2025. But he would nonetheless offer an economical outfield upgrade to San Francisco if the Giants were willing to part with the righty starter suggested as a prime Boston trade target by the BosSox injection writer: 28-year-old, seven-year veteran Logan Webb.
“With the team looking toward more rebuilding this offseason after a selling outlook at the deadline and Rafael Devers’ significant price tag now on the books, moving Webb’s $23 million over the next few seasons ($24M in 2028) might be enticing if it returns quality, cost-controlled depth on the mound or elsewhere,” Feininger wrote.
More MLB: Red Sox Announce Impactful Decision to Shake Up Starting Rotation
Duran obviously falls under the “elsewhere” heading, but he provides an outfield upgrade that the Giants — who were 10 games over .500 and two games out of first in the National League West at the time of the Devers trade, only to fall out of contention and finish at 81-81 — require if they hope to make a run at the postseason in 2026.
Webb would be perhaps the most reliable arm the Red Sox could get their hands on, and to obtain him they would likely need to add a top pitching prospect such as 2025 first-round draft pick Kyson Witherspoon, or lefty power arm Payton Tolle to a package topped by Duran if they wanted to extract Webb.
But Webb led the majors innings pitched this season with 207 — 1 2/3 more than Crochet’s total. Over the past few seasons, Webb has proven the modern version of an old-time “iron man” arm.
Webb also led the big leagues with 216 innings in 2023, and the NL with 204 2/3 in 2024. His 3.22 ERA this season was better than any Red Sox starter other than Crochet and he started 34 games, two more than Crochet, to lead the majors this season.
A Duran-for-Webb deal seems like a good fit for both sides, but for the Red Sox the question is whether the price in prospects in addition to Duran would be too steep for Breslow’s tastes.
More MLB: Insider Reveals Red Sox’s Reasons For Dumping Rafael Devers in Devastating Trade
