Roman Anthony has been sidelined since May 4 with a nagging wrist injury, and Boston’s interim manager says he hasn’t made substantive progress during the team’s time away. The Red Sox are still waiting for a clearer recovery timetable, even as Anthony continu
The last thing Roman Anthony needed—given the way the Boston Red Sox have been struggling near the bottom of the American League—was another pause in his return.
He hasn’t played since May 4. when a wrist injury began in the middle of a season that has offered few easy answers. On Wednesday, interim manager Chad Tracy offered an update that didn’t sound like a turning point. Speaking to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. Tracy said Anthony hasn’t made any substantive progress while the Red Sox were away.
Tracy’s message, as relayed by Healey, was blunt: Anthony occasionally tries to swing a lighter bat, but he hasn’t gotten to a real bat or hitting progression. It’s been close to two months since the injury first sidelined him, and the delay has turned his recovery into a moving target.
The setback is especially frustrating because it traces back to the moment the injury became official. Anthony injured his right wrist/hand after fouling off a pitch on a check swing during a game against the Tigers. Even before the injury lingered well beyond the initial expectation. he was already dealing with the kind of discomfort that doesn’t show up as a clean timeline.
On June 13 at Fenway Park, Anthony said he was still feeling discomfort in his wrist/hand while taking light swings. He called the progress “progressing a lot slower than I’d imagined at the beginning of this. ” adding that he was “definitely progressing. ” which he described as the biggest thing. He also said the pain had not disappeared: “It’s just pain. that’s what it was and until it’s not that I’ll be here. but as soon as it feels like it starts to get a whole lot better I’m sure we’ll have a better idea of where we’re at and how it’s going to go from here.”.
He clarified that the pain wasn’t so severe that he couldn’t swing. “Obviously it’s not agonizing pain if we’re swinging at this point, but it’s enough pain to where we’re not doing more than the amount that we’re doing.”
At the time the injury began, the initial expectation was that Anthony would miss a little over a week. But that timetable didn’t hold. When he spoke in May to MLB.com’s Ian Browne. Anthony said that if his current state held. once the injured list stint was over he planned to be in the next day’s game.
He also connected the lingering delay to what was healing—or. in his words at the time. what still needed time to get better. Even before the prolonged stretch away. Anthony described this as a situation where the only real plan was waiting for torn ligaments in his hand/wrist to heal. a process that typically takes between 8 and 12 weeks. Speaking to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier last week. Anthony said the Red Sox were “not to a point where we’re past a time where we’re like. ‘Oh [expletive]. this is something more serious than what we thought. ’ which is a good thing.”.
But he still had no timetable. and he said that part was “also an annoying thing for me [not to have a timetable].” He described doing what he could on recovery—“recovery. sleep. and all the things that go into [recovery]”—and then letting the body do its work. “It’s just been slower than I imagined.”.
For Boston, the consequences are immediate and visible. In 30 games this season, Anthony is slashing .229/.354/.321 with one home run and five RBI, figures that underline both his limited production this year and the cost of keeping him sidelined.
Right now, there’s no sign that the rehab road has sped up. Tracy’s update on Wednesday suggested he’s still in the stage of trying light swings without reaching a full hitting progression. For a team that has been searching for reinforcements. the most difficult detail isn’t only that Roman Anthony is out—it’s how long it has taken to even get to the next step.
Roman Anthony Red Sox Chad Tracy wrist injury Fenway Park AL standings American League