Red Sox All-Star Having ‘Best Offensive Season Of Career’ Isn't Team MVP

Boston's true alpha on the diamond is a matter of debate, but does it matter?

Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

The Boston Red Sox don’t quite know who their best player is, for anyone keeping track.

Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers both have an argument for that crown, giving Boston two franchise cornerstones the Red Sox will look to build around for the next decade. Duran turns 28 in a couple of weeks, and Devers does the same in late October.

Devers is one home run away from 200 for his career, and he’s having another stellar season in Boston, slashing .292/ .371/ .575 with 27 homers and 77 RBIs entering Saturday. Devers’s production landed him his third All-Star selection this season, but he’s not the Red Sox’s most valuable player, according to one report.

On Thursday, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter published a piece entitled, “Buy or Sell Every MLB Team's WAR Leader Actually Being the Most Valuable Player”, and determined that Boston’s WAR leader, Duran (5.8 WAR), is indeed the club’s rightful MVP for the 2024 season.

“Jarren Duran turned in a breakout 2023 season, and he has been even better this year, hitting .287/.344/.501 for a 130 OPS+ while filling up the stat sheet with 37 doubles, 13 triples, 16 home runs, 62 RBI, 84 runs scored and 31 steals,” Reuter said.

“The 27-year-old took some time to go from top prospect to impact big leaguer, but the Red Sox now appear to have a homegrown star who is under club control through the 2028 season."

"It's tough to overlook Rafael Devers having the best offensive season of his career, but Duran impacts the game in so many ways with his contact skills, extra-base pop, speed and defense that he has provided more wide-ranging value.”

Is Reuter accurate in his assessment of Duran over Devers for Red Sox MVP, or is this just another case of Devers being criminally underrated?

Luckily for Boston, it doesn’t make a difference, so long as both players keep producing at the All-Star level they’ve now established as commonplace.

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