Fantasy Baseball Writer Names 3 Red Sox Players As 2026 Draft Busts

Fantasy Baseball Writer Names 3 Red Sox Players As 2026 Draft Busts originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

A fantasy baseball writer warned drafters against selecting some prominent Boston Red Sox players in 2026.

Frank Stampfl identified five busts in a CBS Sports column published Friday, and three play for Boston. The analyst doesn't want to draft Jarren Duran, Aroldis Chapman or Sonny Gray at their current cost, but he's not out on all Boston players.

"I need to apologize to Red Sox fans, as three of your team's players are on this list," Stampfl wrote. "I don't hate the Red Sox players for Fantasy, I swear! In fact, I'm quite eager to draft Roman Anthony, Ranger Suarez, Willson Contreras and Caleb Durbin. I am not as eager to draft Jarren Duran."

Stampfl is afraid of Duran losing playing time to left-handed pitchers, noting that the outfield has a .620 career OPS against southpaws. However, he also acknowledged on social media that Duran challenged his analysis by hitting a home run off left-handed ace Chris Sale on Friday.

"I don't see Duran bottoming out or anything; I just think he's overvalued in Fantasy if he's not an everyday player, especially in H2H points leagues," Stampfl wrote. "His skillset is still useful, with decent power and lots of speed. I would take all of Jackson Merrill, Seiya Suzuki and George Springer over Duran."

Chapman rebounded from posting a 3.79 ERA in 2024 to boasting a 1.17 ERA for Boston last year. Stampfl is dubious that the veteran closer will replicate that dominance.

"As a general rule in any Fantasy sport, fade the 37-year-old coming off one (of) the best seasons of his career," Stampfl advised.

Stampfl questioned whether Chapman can repeat his 6.6 percent walk rate after issuing free passes at a much higher 15.4 percent from 2021 to 2024.

"Yes, there is a chance last year was real," Stampfl said. "He picks up right where he left off and has another top-five closer season for Fantasy. I think the more likely scenario is that his control regresses towards the rest of his career, especially his very recent years before 2025."

Finally, Stampfl is baffled by Gray's 103.4 average draft position (ADP) in CBS drafts. Managers are buying the veteran's excellent peripheral stats, buoyed by the seventh-best strikeout minus walk rate among qualified starting pitchers last season, despite a 4.28 ERA and diminished fastball that allowed a .376 batting average against for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2025.

Stampfl also pointed out Gray's blow-up risk as he moves to a tougher division that challenged him when he pitched for the New York Yankees.

"When things went wrong for Gray last season, they went really wrong," Stampfl said. "He had six different starts where he allowed multiple home runs. In five of those, he allowed at least six earned runs. As a result, the ERA has been on the high end two years in a row. On top of all of that, he's back in the AL East, where he'll have to face the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Orioles multiple times per year."

More MLB: Jarren Duran Just Homered Off Former Red Sox Ace, And Boston Fans Are Loving It