The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- MLBTR’s recently updated 2025-26 Free Agent Power Rankings (2:05)
- The Padres having interest in Jarren Duran of the Red Sox (9:00)
- The Royals calling up Jac Caglianone (17:55)
- The Mariners calling up Cole Young (24:40)
- The Dodgers acquiring Alexis Díaz from the Reds (28:30)
- Ronel Blanco of the Astros requiring Tommy John surgery (35:15)
- AJ Smith-Shawver of the Braves having been diagnosed with a torn UCL (42:25)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- If the Diamondbacks can’t climb in the standings, what does their deadline look like? (48:45)
- As a thought experiment, if the Orioles were willing to listen on Gunnar Henderson, what teams would even have the pieces to pull off a trade? (54:10)
Check out our past episodes!
- Bregman Injured, Marcelo Mayer Called Up, And Pirates Talk – listen here
- The Disappointing Orioles, Dalton Rushing, And The Phillies’ Bullpen – listen here
- Devers Drama, Managerial Firings, And Jordan Lawlar – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
Love the podcast, it’s my favorite time of the week …. even more than payday!!
Airplane is a great movie, similar to the Police Academy movies, Naked Gun movies, Scary Movies, and my personal favorite Not Another Teen Movie.
Enjoy your take on the Duran rumor, 100% correct that he has a tremendous amount of value and plenty of teams would love to acquire him if the Sox ever shopped him. I don’t think they will even consider trading him before the offseason.
Fever, pay day? When is that? My company last year moved from the first and the fifteenth to every other week and I haven’t noticed a change. Five minutes after it’s deposited into our joint checking, the spouse moves it to her only savings…
dewey – Haha …. yes I know a few guys who let their wives handle all the finances, and my mom did as well.
In fact I bought one of them a shirt that reads “You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not my wife”.
What Jarren Duran rumors? There’s been no real indication of anyone calling Boston about him, or Boston calling anyone to gauge their interest in him.
One reporter speculating that the Padres might want him because they have in the past is not a rumor, and posting it as if it were a rumor in order to create additional content referring back to said post as the source justifying it as a rumor still does not make it a rumor.
I get it, it can be fun to deal in hypotheticals and that’s kind of what we’re here for on a rumors site. But there is a difference between rumors and complete speculation and this Duran stuff is entirely the latter. Please call it what it is.
And if Duran is traded tomorrow?
Then Duran is traded tomorrow. That doesn’t mean the reporter knew anything was in the works or imminent. If he had, he would’ve said so. Merely suggesting that the Padres had been interested in a player before and might think about trying to make a call about him again is not indicative of any advance knowledge of something newsworthy.
DW04: You’re arguing semantics. A sportswriter wrote an article citing a league source saying the Padres are interested in Jarren Duran. And just like that, we have a trade rumor.
In the context of a rumor mill, semantics are important.
A newsworthy rumor is when a reporter who is plugged in with a source has it on good authority that certain discussions are being had around X or Y. That still doesn’t guarantee X or Y will happen, but it is interesting and newsworthy because we know they are considering it. To be a rumor implies that there is some insider knowledge being shared about real decisions being made.
Speculation has a similar basis in being hypothetical, but it *is* different. A beat writer for the Athletic suggesting an idea could be possible is not the same as two decision makers actually contemplating the idea. It does not carry the same weight and should not be presented as if it does.
That doesn’t mean speculation can’t be fun or interesting and isn’t worth sharing. Share away and have fun with it. Just be clear about the difference.
@Dirty Yeah, I know, where’s the reality here? I don’t see the Padres having much to offer other than low to mid-level prospects, and why would the Boston be interested in that? And everything that is appealing about Duran to the Padres (or any team for that matter) is also appealing to the RSox.
It would take a 3rd team to get involved for this rumor to be anything other than clickbait.
Clickbait near certain. Two teams that want to contend seldom trade on a serious basis. SD would prefer to simply get a lesser player if they could accomplish it using a prospect.
Even if one were to conclude that getting Duran for Cease was a great deal, it probably hurts SD’s chances this year, so it is not happening.
Plus, a trade of Duran for Cease (Bosox hangs up the phone) would only make sense if Boston were the team 11 games over 500 right now and SD was the team 5 games under and 5 games and 6 teams removed from the last WC spot.
It’s too early for the RSox to give up on playoffs, but I’m not sure Cease (sans Duran) is what gets them there. If the RSox really want to part with Duran, they can get much more than Cease rental anyway. But there I go, getting pulled into entertaining the scenario as if it has any reality of happening – baited!
That’s another great point. Fun to day dream, but I don’t see any realistic way these two teams line up for a move like this.
San Diego is contending. Boston wants to contend – the ship may be halfway out of the port on 2025 but even if we wave the white flag on this season, there is no plan that involves punting on 2026 – but needs tons of pitching help. A current contender has no ML pitching to offer that would move the needle for us, and while the Padres do have some good pitching prospects they are all multiple years away, so little good that does us.
If Duran does end up getting traded, it’ll be to a team that has talent to offer from their big league roster, or elite prospects who are ready to go.
Dirty – I wrote about this extensively under yesterday’s article, but just to summarize ….. yes I absolutely agree The Athletic writer simply created clickbait.
However like it or not, The Athletic has a decent reputation and a huge presence in the baseball world therefore it’s a rumor that MLBTR rightfully published here. The NESN crew even discussed it during yesterday’s pregame show, and it was discussed on 310 To Left …. and it’s being discussed again right now during the game broadcast.
Remember, the definition of a rumor doesn’t include whether or not it’s true. I’ve been the victim of false rumors in the past, I’m guessing you probably have too ….. it’s still a rumor no matter how false or deceptive it may be.
For sure, the Athletic is usually a decent outlet. I’m not blasting them at all. But that’s why the semantics are important. it being printed there gives it a certain magnitude that readers are going to run with whether it’s justified – or in this case, not.
One guy from their outlet speculating on something generates a media reaction, and now because people all over the place are talking about it they get to circle back and call it a rumor because everyone is talking about it. No, that’s not how rumors work. That’s a manufactured story. They act like there are multiple people reporting a story, when it was one guy putting out an idea and multiple people reacting to it. Baseball trades may not be a matter of life, death, or national security so I don’t want to give the impression I’m steaming mad, but they are still intentionally blurring the lines between ideas that actually may be in motion and guys who may as well be you or I just sharing an opinion, and it’s mildly annoying.
Dirty – I totally agree, it’s not right but it is what it is.
All I’ll say is …..
When you look at all these rumors
Surrounding me every day
I just need some time,
Some time to get away from
From all these rumors
I can′t take it no more
The Pirates should be pursuing a trade of Mitch Keller for Jarren Duran.
They could then use the $15 million per year they would save on Keller to add a free agent hitter in the offseason.
I would have some interest in Keller coming back to the Sox, but being realistic I think Pittsburgh would be more interested in cost controlled prospects than Duran in his arbitration years.
Duran came up as an infielder, so maybe put him at first base. It’ll be better than anything they could acquire In a trade and it will open up a spot for anthony.
They could open a roster spot for Anthony right now by sending Campbell down to AAA. The kid is getting exposed defensively and the bat has cooled tremendously since the end of April. He needs a reset and the Sox need something to spark the offense and Anthony could be it
Rsox – Too soon for Anthony, he could still finish Top Two for ROY.
What’s the urgency to fix 1B? Yesterday, the two players covering the position, Toro and Romy went 3 for 6, and have OPS’s of .803 and .749.
If its not broke, dont fix it. Will that change? Maybe, but the trading deadline is almost 2 month away. They should ride it as long as they can, and deal with it when the problem arises. — Right now, the starting pitching needs fixing.
Rsox
They could open a roster spot for Anthony right now by sending Campbell down to AAA.
=======================
It opens a roster spot, but not a position on the field.
Move Ceddane to 2B (or Story). Anthony can play Left or Center with Duran playing the other
Rafaela OOA:
Infield: — Negative 8
Outfield — Plus 16
Thats a swing of 24. So you’d be okay with a much poorer defense?
If you’ve actually watched the Sox it seems pretty hard to imagine the defense being any worse than it already is. If Anthony can jump start the offense it’s a risk worth taking
Lets compare the team to the rest of the league:
Hitting: 6th best run production
Pitching: 20th best ERA
Fielding: 30th (worst) fielding percentage
Making the fielding worse in hopes the hitting get better makes no sense. They should be looking to trade an OFer for an SP, then noone has to play out of position.
The g before an l in Italian is more or less silent.
Great podcast, and love the idea of team-specific trade deadline previews.
Keep up the good work!