The Boston Red Sox are 12-18, Alex Cora is gone, and the team has already changed the voice in the dugout once this season. After Boston brought in Triple-A manager Chad Tracy to handle leadership duties, the Red Sox won their first two games under him before losing Tuesday night to the Toronto Blue Jays.
That is the backdrop for a harder question now hanging over the roster: whether Jarren Duran should be part of the fix. Duran was the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player two years ago, and his ceiling is not in doubt. In 2024, he led the American League with 48 doubles and 14 triples, hit.285/.342/.492 with 21 home runs and 75 runs batted in, and stole 34 bases. Last year, he again led the AL in triples with 13, while hitting 16 home runs, driving in 84 runs and stealing 24 bases. But he has been off to a poor offensive start in 2026, and the article presents a trade of Duran for a solid power hitter as one way to get the team moving in the right direction.
Boston’s offense is the biggest problem to this point, and the club is clearly thinking about roster moves because management believes something is missing. That search has already included the kind of power bat the Red Sox hoped to add in the offseason. Fans had expected Pete Alonso to be in the mix, but he signed with the Baltimore Orioles instead, and Boston never made a significant move for Kyle Schwarber. The team also sees Wilyer Abreu as a legitimate power hitter who could hit 30 home runs and handle right field well, while Masataka Yoshida has been described as a part-time player.
Tracy’s presence matters because he has already worked with part of the next wave. He managed Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Ceddanne Rafaela and others when they were at Worcester, so he knows the system and the younger names Boston may lean on if it keeps searching for answers. But the tension here is obvious: the Red Sox need offense now, and the player with the strongest trade value is also one of the few who has already shown he can carry a lineup over a full season. If Boston moves Duran, it will be betting that a power bat changes more than the speed and athleticism it gives up.
For a club that opened 2026 at 12-18 and has already pushed out its manager, the next move may say as much about the front office’s patience as it does about the roster.