Jarren Duran agreed to a one-year deal that includes a club option for 2026. He’ll make at least $3.75 million in 2025, and possibly $12 million in 2026. Charles Krupa/Associated Press

One week after causing a stir by failing to come to terms on a salary with star outfielder Jarren Duran following his breakout season, the Boston Red Sox avoided arbitration with him.

The Red Sox agreed to a one-year contract with Duran on Friday, meaning they will not appear before an arbitration panel. According to a baseball source, the deal is for $3.75 million and includes a complicated team option for 2026 that comes with a base of $8 million and can max out at $12 million based on performance escalators. There are also incentives that can raise Duran’s 2025 salary.

On top of his base number of $3.75 million in 2025, Duran will earn $50,000 in performance bonuses at three different plate appearance benchmarks — 450, 500 and 550 — maxing out at $150,000. The 2026 club option, valued at $8 million, comes with a $100,000 buyout, so Duran will earn $4 million in 2025 as long as he stays healthy and reaches 550 plate appearances.

The Red Sox formally offered Duran $3.5 million last week when the sides couldn’t agree to terms. He countered at $4 million. Friday’s deal provides a base salary at the midpoint of that number plus an easy path to $4 million in 2025. The option and escalators give Duran upside for 2026.

The 2026 club option, for Duran’s second season in the arbitration process, can grow significantly based on the type of season Duran, who finished eighth in the American League MVP race last year, has in 2025. It’ll escalate in value based on how he finishes in MVP voting.

The option will be worth $9 million if he finishes in the top 20, $10 million if he finishes in the top 10, $11 million if he’s in the top five and $12 million if he wins the MVP award in 2025. If he’s not in the top 20 in MVP voting but is named second-team All-MLB, the option grows by $500,000. Over the two years — only if he wins AL MVP in 2025 — Duran can max out his earnings at $15.9 million.

Barring a longer contract extension — a possibility the Red Sox have never explored with him, according to sources — Duran will be under team control for four more seasons, through 2028. It simply locks in his salary for 2025 while providing an option to avoid the arbitration process next winter. If the Red Sox were to decline Duran’s option in a year, he would remain under their control and the sides would simply negotiate in the arbitration process again.

Duran, 28, was arbitration-eligible for the first time as a Super Two player who has accumulated enough service time to get four years in the arbitration system. MLBTradeRumors projected that Duran, who finished fifth in all of baseball in bWAR (8.7) last season, to earn $4.9 million in his first year of arbitration. He made a base salary of $760,000 in 2024, when he was a pre-arbitration player, plus took home an extra $1,321,661 from baseball’s new pre-arbitration pool after a standout season in which he won All-Star Game MVP.

The Red Sox will not go to arbitration with any of their players this year after agreeing to terms with lefty Garrett Crochet ($3.8 million) and righties Tanner Houck ($3.95 million) and Kutter Crawford ($2.75 million). They haven’t gone to a hearing since beating Eduardo Rodriguez  in 2020.

At last weekend’s Fenway Fest, both manager Alex Cora and team president/CEO Sam Kennedy ripped the arbitration process.

“I have my feelings about arbitration. It’s kind of like a bad process to be honest with you and it doesn’t make sense,” said Cora.

“I don’t like arbitration,” Kennedy said. “That’s why I’m not involved with it. So it’s a better question for Brez (Craig Breslow). It’s a necessary evil I guess. It’s how our industry works. But making an argument for value for a player under your control and someone who is so important, it is difficult to have those conversations. I’m confident we will get to a conclusion one way or another. And we’re just focused on how important Jarren Duran is for what we’re building here — breakout season, one of the most elite players in the game and we’re really lucky to have him.”