Jarren Duran Backlash Suggests It's Time for Red Sox Tenure to End
One of the more complicated tenures in Boston Red Sox history seems to have reached the point where it should finally, mercifully end.
Jarren Duran’s time in Boston hasn’t been noteworthy enough to really be called an “era.” There was the MLB All-Star MVP year of 2024, when he was one of best outfielders in baseball, but beyond that season it has felt like for whatever Duran has given to the Red Sox, he’s never far from a distraction that takes away.
The latest backlash suggests the team can no longer delay the inevitable with its mercurial left fielder.
Exactly what transpired is subject to social media hearsay, but the gist is that he allegedly didn’t like something a media member posted and let that be known through other channels, using colorful language. When the media member, Boston media personality Tyler Milliken, approached Duran to talk about it, Duran rudely refused, according to Milliken.
This incident, even if it happened the way it’s been described, isn’t reason to trade Duran. It isn’t really that big of a deal. Professional athletes often take exception to things that are reported about them, reporters often approach them to discuss it, and athletes often tell those reporters to take a long walk off a short pier. If every player who got mad at the media was traded immediately, player movement in pro sports would make the NCAA transfer portal look tame by comparison.
No, it’s not the incident that necessitates action by the Red Sox, but the reaction that demands attention.
Milliken has been a Duran defender by and large, as have most members of the Red Sox media, particularly after Duran’s openness about his struggles with mental health. Similarly, many Red Sox fans have been willing to overlook Duran’s faults because of how much he obviously cares about playing well. He hustles for the extra base and is legitimately frustrated when he fails to deliver in a big moment. His defensive limitations — the fact that he can only play left field hampered the Red Sox’s lineup flexibility until Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela emerged — were an acceptable tradeoff.
There was even vocal dismay when Duran’s name came up in trade rumors the past two years. How could a team trade a player in his 20s, with arbitration years remaining, who would run through a brick wall for his team?
After several incidents this season, however, the tenor has changed.
“Jarren Duran has now demonstrated that he’s a very small man many times,” one tweet read. “It’s time we believe him.”
“Jarren Duran said he wanted to fight Milliken. Milliken went up to Duran to talk about it like a man,” WBZ-FM broadcaster Matt McCarthy posted. “Duran did not want to talk about it, nor did he follow up on his threat to beat the (expletive) out of Milliken, probably because he’s incapable for doing either. Guy is a loser.”
“This stinks because Tyler is truly annoyingly toxic positivity,” MassLive beat reporter Chris Cotillo posted. “It pisses me off how positive he is (love you, @tylermilliken_) but he’s in the players’ corner.”
That last point is the one that matters. After numerous run-ins with fans — some arguably justified, some not — Duran appears to be seeing ghosts. And right now, he can’t afford to commit energy to anything besides improving his play. His 72 OPS+ is his lowest since he became a regular player, and for a hitter who was once considered a top-of-the-order run generator, his .259 on-base percentage is unforgivable. For most of his career, Duran merely has been maddeningly underwhelming, but this season he’s been just plain bad.
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Unfortunately for the Red Sox, Duran’s value is at an all-time low. He’s no longer the 24-year-old spitfire that a trade partner might daydream about as its centerfielder of the future, nor is his star on the rise as it seemed to be after his All-Star campaign. At 29, he’s trending down at the time most stars are at the peak of their powers.
Until now, the Red Sox have always been handcuffed by the reality that they didn’t have any better options than Duran. That’s no longer the case. In the long term, left field needs to be vacated for Roman Anthony. In the short term, with Anthony injured, Masataka Yoshida is outproducing Duran relative to their plate appearances this season, and as left fielders, the defensive edge Duran brings doesn’t justify the 30-point OPS+ discrepancy.
The allure of Duran has always been his willingness to fight, figuratively speaking, for every inch on the field. But even the fiercest competitor needs to be fighting the right opponent. When he starts fighting people in his corner, it might be time to end a relationship that can’t be salvaged.
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This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 9:00 AM.