Jarren Duran showed Royals firsthand why they should keep pursuing him this winter

Thankfully the Kansas City Royals were able to save face in their midweek series against the Boston Red Sox by coming out victorious on Wednesday to avoid the sweep with a 7-3 win.

While losing a series to a team they're in direct competition with in the AL Wild Card race is less than ideal, there are certainly some takeaways to be had. While Matt Quatraro and the KC clubhouse will be using some of those takeaways to prepare for their upcoming weekend set in Minnesota on Friday, J.J. Picollo and the front office will have some takeaways to mull over themselves.

The trade deadline is in the rearview, meaning the opportunity for major moves will have to wait.

Now, Picollo and Co. did a great job addressing this team's needs in a way that was grounded in the reality of where the uphill battle they face in the standings. However, now that the time has passed to make those extreme difference making moves midseason, the front office's focus will likely start to shift into offseason mode in evaluating this team in the second-half (and fingers crossed the postseason) to identify where changes are most needed.

When identifying those needs, they should look no further than one of the key names in the opposing dugout this week in Jarren Duran.

It wouldn't be the first time the Royals targeted Duran, as he was rumored to be a name they had interest in ahead of the trade deadline. Now, they just saw firsthand the type of talent he could bring to this scuffling outfield mix.

Jarren Duran should remain one of the Royals' top targets this offseason

Duran wasted no time punishing the Royals, jumping on them right off the bat in the first inning of Game 1 of this series.

He managed to get to Bailey Falter amid a shaky start to his Royals tenure and deposit a three-run shot into the seats in center field. Homers are rare enough for the Royals come by this season, but outfield homers have been especially tough, as they sit last in all of baseball in outfield home runs through Wednesday.

Then on Tuesday, it was a 2-for4 outing with a double and an RBI, getting to the other KC new guy in Ryan Berget during his second go through the order.

Finally, on Wednesday, even in the loss when the Sox offense couldn't find many answers for Michael Wacha, Duran still managed to get to him right off the hop in the first inning, with a single where he'd eventually come around to score.

For the series, Duran hit .333 with a 1.000 OPS and 170 wRC+. That was leaps and bounds better than John Rave's 113 wRC+, Randal Grichuk's 107 wRC+ and Kyle Isbel's 33 wRC+, to put things into context.

Duran was reportedly an "attractive" name to the Royals ahead of the deadline, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. However, multiple reports suggested that, the Red Sox didn't seem keen on dealing another major piece from their roster midseason, with Sam McAdam from Mass Live reporting that it could "[behoove] them to wait until the winter meetings" to make such a deal.

Now, Picollo's approach to acquire more conservative and affordable outfield options for the Royals in the midst of a strange year should be applauded. That being said, the reality remains that he'll need to really address this issue aggressively come the offseason if he wants to avoid another outfield trainwreck next season.

His deadline additions are all likely to be on the open market next season, with Grichuk holding a mutual option for 2026 and Yastrzemski off the books entirely. This leaves the proven unproductive duo of Rave and Isbel to pair with the struggling rookie Jac Caglianone.

The Royals will always have limited financial means compared to many mid-to-large market teams. That makes Duran, with an $8 million club option for 2026 and then two additional years of arbitration after that, an affordable option for Picollo to utilize some of the prospect assets he has at his disposal to acquire an All-Star caliber name to address his team's biggest weakness.

And at this point, it will certainly be within the best interest of the Red Sox to shed some major league outfielders. With a young trio of Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and the now the newly extended Roman Anthony, Boston already has a formidable outfield for the future that Duran would only continue to crowd.

The fit seems to make itself at this point. And after seeing firsthand the damage Duran can do when things are clicking for him, he would be the perfect fit to occupy an everyday role in the Royals outfield.