In a Boston outfield that lacks an established star, one player who could make a big impact is Jarren Duran.

There was a point last season when the emergence of the speedy left-handed hitter was one of the best stories on the Red Sox.

But then came an August slump, and an unfortunate left toe injury that required season-ending surgery. Duran hurt his toe climbing the wall at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 20, and the Red Sox didn’t look the same offensively for the rest of the season.

The slump and the injury left a sour taste in Duran’s mouth heading into the offseason. But the 27-year-old is looking forward these days, and he could be primed to become the true leadoff hitter the Red Sox don’t really have otherwise.

“The offseason is great,” Duran said recently at the team’s Winter Weekend event. “I'm healthy, I'm full go. I've been sprinting, lifting, doing sleds. I feel great.”

With Justin Turner departing for the Blue Jays as a free agent, Masataka Yoshida is expected to spend a lot more time in the designated hitter role than he did last season.

That could open up more of an opportunity for Duran, who will vie for time in the outfield along with two other young players in Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela, and also offseason acquisition Tyler O’Neill. Rob Refsnyder, whose strength is hitting left-handed pitching, is also back in the fold.

It is still to be determined how manager Alex Cora aligns those outfielders, meaning there should be some good competition during Spring Training.

In 2023, Duran played 557 innings in center field and 173 innings in left.

Though Duran made notable improvements in center last season after some glaring mishaps in 2022, there are some in the organization who feel his best position could be left field.

“I don’t know. I’m just going to go in and just compete, play my hardest,” Duran said. “It's all I can control. Wherever they want to put me, I'm going to be ready for them.”

Duran has game-changing speed, and he had the unofficial team lead (by a lot) last season for singles that he stretched into doubles.

Oftentimes, Duran would cause a rushed outfielder to make a poor throw to second.

In 332 at-bats, Duran had a batting line of .295/.346/.482 with 34 doubles, two triples, eight homers and 40 RBIs. Duran stole 24 bases while only getting caught twice.

“I'm excited," Duran said. "I had a good season last year. I'm my harshest critic, so I'm never satisfied with what I did. And I missed that time towards the end. I’m just going to push myself to be hungry. I missed time with the guys, and that hurt, so I’ve just got to come out and just do my thing.”

Though Duran’s spot on the roster is all but guaranteed -- a far cry from a year ago -- he refuses to look at it that way.

“I think I have the same mindset [as last year],” Duran said. “Nothing's given. I'm going to go in there like I don't have a spot, because you never know. It’s baseball. Things happen. So I'm just gonna go in there, work hard and have fun, hang out with the guys. It’s always the mindset I’m going with because nothing's guaranteed. So you’ve got to go in there and compete.”

Turner did everything the Red Sox asked of him and more last season, emerging as the team’s leader in the community and the clubhouse while posting a career-high 96 RBIs.

In different circumstances, Boston would have re-signed Turner, who was slowed by a troublesome right heel injury down the stretch but still had 23 homers to go with a sturdy .800 OPS.

However, in recent weeks, the Red Sox have revealed their intention of building around their young core. With Triston Casas entrenched at first base after a solid rookie season and Yoshida shifting to DH, there wasn’t much of a role left for Turner.

Turner heads to Toronto grateful for the chance to wear the Red Sox uniform, if only for a year.

“The city has been really, really fantastic to us. Not only us, but our foundation as well and supporting that, and being given the opportunity to put a Red Sox jersey on and play in Fenway Park and call it home has been something, honestly, I couldn’t even imagine would happen in my career,” said Turner. “But I’m so glad it did, because it’s truly been one of the best experiences of my life.”

For Jimy Williams, who died at the age of 80 this past week, the Red Sox were one of several stops on his baseball carousel.

But it was an important stop, one in which Williams was named the American League’s Manager of the Year in 1999.

Williams, who managed the Red Sox from 1997-2001, helped the club build a foundation of winning in the early seasons of the Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez era. Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon are two players who have expressed through the years how much they learned from Williams.

Perhaps Williams' top strength was he never lost his passion for hands-on instruction even after he became a manager. Williams took pride in drilling fundamentals into his team, and he could frequently be found working up a sweat during pregame drills.

When Nixon slumped mightily through the first few weeks of his first full season in 1999, Williams not only stuck with him in the lineup but helped him with some modifications to his batting stance.  As a result of his improved mechanics and restored confidence, Nixon thrived down the stretch in ’99, and he held down right field for the Red Sox through 2006.

“It was tough,” Nixon said in September of that 1999 season. “But the best way to handle something like that is to keep working. I’m just thankful that the coaching staff and Jimy Williams kept putting me in the lineup. ... They really worked with me and helped me get through it.”

Condolences to the Williams family and the countless people in the baseball community he influenced.

Naehring, who earned the respect of Red Sox fans for his gritty style of play, turned 57 on Thursday.

While injuries limited Naehring to 547 games over eight seasons, he played his entire career with the Red Sox, slashing .282/.365/.420 with 49 homers and 250 RBIs. Naehring also gave the club versatility on defense, starting games at all four infield positions during his career.

These days, Naehring is the vice president of baseball operations for the Yankees, a role he has held since 2015.

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