CLEVELAND -- One step forward, one step back.
After injured Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony took dry swings during Boston’s series against Kansas City last week, interim manager Chad Tracy said Friday that Anthony was being shut down for the time being after he experienced some soreness in his sprained right wrist while taking part in tee swings on Thursday.
“He hit off the tee [yesterday] and had some discomfort, so we’re going to slow-play it,” Tracy said ahead of Boston's series opener against the Guardians. “It’s going to be day to day, or even the better way is ‘action to action.’ [We’re going to be asking], ‘What did he do today, is that uncomfortable and do we have to wait?’”
Anthony first hit the injured list on May 5 when he sustained the wrist sprain after he fouled off a pitch during the previous day's game against Detroit. After it initially seemed like he would only have a minimum stint on the injured list, he’s run into a couple of setbacks.
He initially felt soreness in his wrist on May 18 when he first tried to return to swinging, but he was able to wait a bit and start swinging again earlier this week.
Now he’s going to be back to playing the waiting game.
“That’s not Roman’s fault; it’s not anyone’s fault,” Tracy said. “It's just he got hurt, and it’s a nagging injury on a hand when he’s trying to hit.”
Tracy also said that Anthony isn’t planning on doing anything “swing-wise” in the next couple days. Anthony didn’t travel to Cleveland with the team. Tracy also clarified the injury after Anthony called it a “tear” in a radio interview Thursday despite the team listing the ailment as a sprain.
“I know stuff came out yesterday about tear versus sprain versus strain and all these different things, and I don’t know what to say other than any of those are a tear,” Tracy said. “You strain a hamstring and that’s a partial tear; fibers let go a little bit and they need to heal.
“I don’t think anything is portrayed differently or wrongly. If a guy strains his hamstring, I won’t come out here and say he tore his hamstring. That’s not how that works.”
Anthony’s return would be a huge boon for the ailing Red Sox, who entered play on Friday with a record of 23-32 and has a team wRC+ of 92, which is the sixth-lowest mark in baseball.
While Boston’s outfield has been solid in Anthony’s absence thanks to Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu, the 22-year-old is a clear part of the team’s core and an important piece of the offense. But for now, the Sox are going to be playing the waiting game to see when he’s going to be healthy enough to return.
“The fact of the matter remains he’s got something in there, and if there’s discomfort we just have to wait,” Tracy said. “Did we want it to go quicker? Yes, but we can’t control the healing. Is it going to go a little longer than we hoped and thought? Yeah, but that’s how it goes.”