BOSTON -- An abrupt postseason for the Red Sox -- swept by the Yankees in two games in an American League Wild Card Series -- got off to an ominous start when Roman Anthony re-injured his right hand/wrist after just two at-bats in Game 1. The next day, he had to be taken off the roster when imaging showed additional strains.
The good news is that the Red Sox think he can avoid surgery.
“Yeah, he's had a bunch of follow-up appointments here, including imaging,” said Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. “We're still collecting information, still working through what the kind of right course of treatment is. And at this point, it doesn't seem that there's any type of surgical intervention. It looks like rest is likely the best path to recovery."
And seemingly the only path.
“My understanding is that there's no surgical intervention at this point, that's planned or that merits consideration because what we've been told is that the [doctors] don't even know what surgery we would do,” said Breslow.
The Red Sox had projected a breakout 2026 season for Anthony that would have included roughly 600 plate appearances.
The talented left-handed hitter wound up with just 242 plate appearances and an underwhelming .735 OPS, thanks in large part to the initial injury he suffered on May 4 in Detroit that knocked him out of action until Aug. 30.
The injury Anthony had -- a partially torn carpometacarpal/CMC ligament, which is located at the base of his right ring finger -- is a rare one, which made it hard to predict recovery time.
After coming off the roster, Anthony acknowledged that his hand never did feel 100 percent when he came back, but he thought he was healthy enough to play.
“I think what we knew was that we had a pretty good understanding of what the diagnosis was and that Roman was very confident that he could contribute and that over the course of a game there would be a swing or two that might give him -- he would describe as a little bit of like a zinger, and then a few seconds later, that feeling would subside, and he could continue with his at-bats,” said Breslow.
“We wanted to balance Roman's desire to get on the field and compete, and his ability to help us win games, with making sure that we were doing the kind of medically responsible thing, and not trying to put him in any greater danger. Obviously, there was some new injury that popped up in the postseason. But from the standpoint of, did we have a pretty good understanding of what we thought was going on, and was there kind of alignment and everyone on board with the plan? The answer is yes.”
But in both of his at-bats in Game 1 against the Yankees, the discomfort was much more substantial than a zinger and Anthony knew he had little choice but to shut it down.
A near four-month shutdown for Anthony didn’t allow for the injury to completely subside. In fact, it returned a month later with additional strains.
Why does Breslow think that rest will be more effective now?
“I think maybe the difference between what rest looks like in the offseason and what rest looks like in April is different because Roman was trying to get healthy and trying to do everything he possibly could to get back on the field. When he felt comfortable and confident that he could help contribute, he pushed to get back on the field.
“In the offseason, you can truly say this is about getting healthy. And so he was trying to swing and he was doing tee work and dry swings as soon as he could, and a couple of times he tried and had to take a step back and would try again versus now having this window to rest it completely and make sure we don't progress to step two until we're complete.”
Third baseman Caleb Durbin also played with a right pinkie that was out of place from when he subluxed it in Denver on June 24 (then hit a game-winning homer the next night) through the end of the season.
“I think he deserves a ton of credit for what he played through,” said Breslow. “Roman deserves a ton of credit for doing everything he possibly could to get back on the field. We have a bunch of guys that are committed to this team and to each other and want to get back on the field and compete with each other and for our fans at all costs.”
Breslow said he is unsure if Durbin will require surgery.