After his use of a homophobic slur directed at a fan Sunday, Jarren Duran was given a two-game suspension by the Red Sox. In truth, they were left with no alternative.

Team policy across the majors is to go to a hearing with any arbitration-eligible player who doesn’t agree before the deadline, but the Sox and Duran are at odds over $500,000.

With Duran, in particular, the Red Sox are playing an especially dangerous and unnecessary ... Sasaki’s posting window closes on Jan. 23, but for Boston, that window closed long ago. As of last week, the Red Sox hadn’t even been granted an in-person ...