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MLBTR is reporting elbow surgery. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/tigers-rumors-tarik-skubal-scratch-injury.html

He swats the bug hard but it goes directly to the shortstop for an easy 6-3…

Probably just a boring 2 hitter…

You’re only selecting part of his prediction. He predicted they would win more games than last year - meaning 90+ - and still miss the postseason. And technically , they haven’t “finished” anywhere yet…

Oops. Post deleted. Confused Durban and Duran. The similarities in those names makes me happier that they signed IKF instead of adding Mauricio Dubon and additional layers of confusion…

I agree reversible , in-house changes are more likely at this stage of the season. You can demote Durbin and promote him again 10 days later or whenever. But the point is he’s not gone forever. DFA/release Story and you’ve made an irreversible move. Now moving Story to 2b or 3b? Thats reversible and a preferred in-house change as well.

I have 0 issues with moving Story, but it’s more likely a DFA/release situation, or take back an even worse deal. The proper Avenue is DFA/release. But doing so is a complete white flag on 2026…

But you said he was right, not closer. “Take cover, everyone! Goal posts incoming!!!”

I actually thought he didn’t. They could demote him as well, but unlike Durbin, Duran has a track record for being a 4-8 WAR player. And at some point they need to keep a few bodies. Also Duran doesn’t have a 60% groundball rate against a 6% line drive rate. Besides like I pointed out, Durbin is doing much worse than Duran if you don’t count his lone home run of Weston Wilson. Against actual MLB pitchers, his numbers are worse than Kristian Campbell during his slump. Why not demote Durbin? They still get to keep him and can recall him later. And they probably need to make some sort of changes. I suppose given the alignment I proposed, they could simply bench Durbin. But that does him no good…

It’s like the arguments I have with my conspiracy theorist brother-in-law about Bob Lazar being a complete fraud. ”But he correctly predicted the existence of element 115! It was discovered since he made his claim!” ”No, he really didn’t. He got everything wrong about the element, which was made, not discovered. It doesn’t produce gravity waves snd Lazar completely forgot to mention it was so radioactive it has a half-life of milliseconds. And considering he defined the exact isotope the aliens were using, this should have been noticeable.” ”But we don’t know elements are the same on other planets.” ”Every astrophysicist says they are, and it makes sense that they are. But if you’re now arguing that the alien 115 is different from Moscovium, what exactly are you saying he predicted?” ”I’m saying 115 exists and he was right. How else did he know?” ”Dude, the only thing he got right was the atomic number. And you’re sitting with the kids at Thanksgiving.”

He also said they would win more games in 2026 than the won in 2025 (89)…

Seems to depend on your source and payroll type. Sportrac has them 11th on labor payroll and 6th in luxury tax. I haven’t seen 15th anywhere…

Yes if you are among the rare folks who consider DH to be an infield position…

He’s not but he’s the only one of the three that can be demoted without being DFA. The Sox aren’t likely to make irreversible changes right now…

Thats fair..

If this team was any better, Watson should be DFAd. But no point until things turn around…

When is it time to demote Durbin? His OPS is .520, but if you don’t count his lone home run off an outfielder, it’s .475. Campbell’s got demoted for a worse slump, and he already had an Offensive Rookie of the Month award on his resume (with a .935 OPS)… Story to 2b, Mayer to 3b, Rafaela to SS, Duran to CF, Anthony to LF, Yoshida to DH. It feels a little criminal to me that Yoshida is among the best 3 or 4 hitters on this struggling team, but is only batting slightly more often than Monasterio and Kiner-Falefa…

Is there a minimum number of games played for this? Because it seems like the Sox were in first place this year after starting out 1-0, tied with NY and Baltimore…

Eloy Jimenez has no extra base hits this year. He’d be just another underperforming hitter…

You certainly cared every time you posted where the Sox ranked in percentage of revenue spent. I can spot the difference between “not caring about” and “don’t want to hear about..”

The second fact probably justifies the first. There are no engined leagues either but the thought of whether or not I’m Joe of the best 780 engineers in the world never even entered my mind until I typed this sentence…

Fred is right the offense is bad. He is wrong for thinking IKF is the problem and that Henry chose the utility infielder over other power bats. Fred is right that the Sox ranked 23rd in percentage of revenue spent on payroll per one source. But that’s misleading. Many contenders were similarly ranged. The Cubs, for example, were 22nd. Also that team made the post-season and that data is officially outdated. We do not know what percentage of revenue went to payroll simply because they have not made all their revenue just yet. Fred is wrong for repeatedly insisting the Sox did nothing this off-season. They clearly made lots of moves. His issue appears to be he had a few very specific players in mind, and the Sox grabbed none of them. The fact that he is now comparing the past off-season to trade deadlines where the Sox did make no or close to no moves further proves this point…

I’ve played baseball too, stopping just before college. I cannot draw a parallel between the mindset of high school players and MLB players. It just isn’t there. In one scenario, it’s a school activity; in the other it’s a career, and a potentially lucrative one. Ive posted before that everyone in MLB is better at baseball than any of us are at anything. To me, this seems obvious. You make an MLB roster, you’re likely to be one of the best 780 baseball players in the world, or at a minimum not far outside that range. Personally, the concept of being one of the top 780 people in the world at ANYTHING seems foreign to me. So in the same way that I don’t think that just because I have played chess means I understand what it’s like to be Magnus Carlsson, I don’t believe my baseball experiences are relatable to MLB players who are not only among the best in the world, but also well aware of it. I was also extremely surprised how many folks were deeply offended when told they’re not as good at anything as say, IKF is at baseball. I’m hoping they assumed I meant MLB and it was a misunderstanding. But I suppose it’s possible although extraordinarily unlikely they were all among the top 780 people in the world at some arcane activity…

And at that deadline, the Sox acquired nothing. This off-season, they brought in Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Caleb Durbin and Ranger Suarez, plus others. That’s not the same as an 11th hour trade for INF Luis Urias with hopes it bolsters the rotation…

He hit one HR off an MLB pitcher - Gregory Soto. And he hit one other home run off some guy named Jesus Cruz. He only hit 2. These “facts” probably need verification; I’m working off memory here. Anthony did have a great WBC, with an OPS of .920 for the tournament and the bulk of pitching he faced (Jesus Cruz notwithstanding) was actual MLB pitching. But to say this was only because he was in an All Star lineup is premature, especially since last year Anthony started out slowly for about 100-125 PAs, and then went on a tear with a .945 OPS the rest of the way until his injury. So it’s not like we haven’t seen it before…