The Red Sox is thinly stretched by the loss of Roman Anthony

Roman Anthony Has had a pretty impact on the Red Sox this season. When it is no. 2 prospect on our top 100 prospects list was called to Boston in June, the Red Sox was 32-35, closer to the last place in the East then first. Less than a week after he arrived, Boston exchanged Rafael DeversAnd since then, Anthony has been nothing less than the best batter of the team, while it helps to post the best record of the already in that period. Unfortunately, the 21-year-old phenomenon may not help the Red SOX a wildcard nail, because a slanting tension will probably at least put him aside for the rest of the regular season and longer.

Anthony sustained the injury during the fourth inning of Tuesday’s game against the Guardians in Fenway Park. He then felt something on his left a controlled swingThen he turned out to swing at the next throw, after which he grabbed his left underneath while he ran away from the plate.

Anthony did not return to the field for the top of the fifth inning; Instead, he was replaced by Nate Eaton. An MRI taken on Wednesday morning revealed what the outfielder said that reporters is a grade 2 tribe, an injury that usually lasts four to six weeks to heal.

Four weeks is not enough time to return before the end of the regular season (28 September) or the start of the WildcardRonde (30 September). On Wednesday manager Alex Cora Made it clear that he did not expect Anthony for the division series, the Red Sox was allowed to get that far. “I told him he should introduce Alcs, first start,” he told Reporters. As for Cora, the rest of the team told, the manager referred to the loss of the early season of the First Honkman Triston Casas to a torn left patella tendon, proverb”Keep going. Just like we did after Casas, [like] We did it after the [Devers] Trade, we will continue. At a certain point he will be part of this, so just have to be patient, but continue to pitch, keep putting good battles, keep playing. “

Alex Cora’s message to the Red Sox after the Roman Anthony injury: “Keep going. Just like we did after Casas, we continued after the exchange, we will continue. At a certain point he will be part of this, so we just have to be patient, but continue to pitch, keep playing well in bats.” pic.twitter.com/5xvc7x0rdw

– Red Sox on Clns (@REDOSOXCLNS) September 3, 2025

No matter how long Anthony will be out, the Red Sox will miss him. The team, which is 78-63 in general, has gone a best 46-28 since his arrival, climbing fourth in the Al East, 8 1/2 games behind the Yankees, to the third, 3 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays (81-59) and half a match behind the Yanks (78-62). At that time, their playoff opportunities improved from 18.8% to 97.2%.

Anthony .292/.396/.463 (138 WRC+) affected eight homers in 71 competitions and 303 record performances while he splits his time between the right field (32 starts), the left field and the designated Hitter (17 Starts each). Under the Red Sox, only the departed Devers has a higher OBP or WRC+ than Anthony unless you count Nathaniel Lowewho has hit a blistering .324/.381/.568 (154 WRC+), albeit in only 42 record appearances since signing with the team on August 18. Anthony’s 2.7 War has been leading Boston’s position players since his debut, just before his debut, just before Trevor -Story (2.6).

Anthony, who signed the Red SOX for an eight-year extension with a value of at least $ 130 million (and possibly no less than $ 230 million) less than two months in his Major League career, has been everything that a team could have hoped-included a particularly effective catalyst on top of the line-up. From July 27 to September 2, he hit Leadoff in 27 of the 34 games of Boston and hit .336/.439/.564 (174 WRC+) over 132 plate performances in that capacity. Years DuranThe only other Red SOX player with at least 40 Pa from the Leadoff spot has led 91 games and a relatively lauwe .262/.330/.429 (106 WRC+) in 425 PA in that role.

Sometimes the Red Sox had such a surplus of outfielders that they used Ceddanne Rafaela – The second is among all central field players in FrV (16) and third in Drs (15) – to start 19 games on second base. But lately the outfield has been thinly stretched by injuries. The SOX is currently without outfielder Wilyer AbbreuWho has made a team-high 90 starts in the right field, usually as the long half of a platoon. The Lefty-Swinging 26-year-old is second in the team with 22 homers and has .253/.325/.486 (115 WRC+) hit. He tightened his right calf while on August 17 he was against the Marlins of third base and went on the IL on August 21. His recovery has been slower than expected; From Monday he was still not released to run at maximum speed.

This is Abbreu’s second Il -Stint this year. His first, an 11-day absence for a mild sloping trunk in June, left Anthony’s call in the first place. Just before Abreu injured his calf a few weeks ago, his once peloton partner Rob Refnyder Missed for 13 days because of a mild sloping trunk of itself. With both players outside, the team looked a short look Jhostynxon GarciaA 22-year-old Righty Die .277/.352/.489 (124 WRC+) hit 33 games in Double-A Portland and 71 in Triple-A Worcester. Recalled on the same day, Abreu, the 45+ FV prospect at the nickname “The Password” started three games for the Red Sox, all against left-wing, while making a few ninth inning cameies. (Since then he has been returned to Triple-A.) In that limited piece of playing time, he hit 1-out-7 with a double, two walks and five strikeouts. Strikeouts have been a problem during the career of Garcia; He has been broadcast in Worcester 27.8% of the time, only has a contact percentage of 68.4% there, and according to our prospect expert Eric Longagen has only a 30-meter and 40-Future figure on his hit tool.

With Duran in the left field and Rafaela in the middle, the Red Sox has stability in two -thirds of their outfield for the time being. Without both Anthony and Abreu, Cora has indicated that the right field will be a patchwork, one that could not only include Refnyder (which was activated on August 28) and Eaton, but also Masataka Yoshidawho no longer played the position since he came from Japan prior to the 2023 season, and who played only one inning this year in the links of just 24 innings in 2024.

‘Of course we are waiting for [Abreu] To come back, we move – Masa is probably playing a bit outside, “Cora said. “We mix and match, just like we have done the entire season. It will be fine.”

The problem for the Red Sox is that, since Abreu went down, Refnyder and Yoshida already did most of the DH work, largely split along peloton lines. If they both play regularly, one in the right and the other at DH, someone will be overexposed:

The 34-year-old Refsnyder, now in his fourth year as a handy reserve for the Red Sox, gets good on the left; He even has a career .281/.383/.440 (128 WRC+) line against them, but only one .231/.302/.331 (76 WRC+) line against judges. The 32-year-old Yoshida has beaten judges on a .293/.345/.449 (117 WRC+) with Boston, but he only cuts .240/.314/.346 (82 WRC+) against left. After having undergone an operation to repair the Labrum in his judge (throwing) shoulder last October, he did not return to the Red Sox until July 9 and he still has to go offensively. The 28-year-old Eaton, a right-handed Slagman, bounces back and forth between Triple-A and the Majors (2023 and ’24 with the royals) in the past three seasons. He can also play the third base, but at least as far as his attack is concerned, he does not yet have to maintain a success on the head of the Major League level and .218/.280/.292 (58 WRC+) in 226 career plate performances. He beat the lead -off against Guardians Lefty on Wednesday Joey CantilloBut if his bat is not on the task and Cora would rather keep Duran third, Refnyder and colleague -rightty Romy GonzalezThe one in general .302/.339/.494 (123 WRC+) was hit while splitting the time between the second and first (where he has recently been a platoon of Lowe), are the best candidates to hit first, at least when they are confronted with a leffty.

Not that it means something for Boston’s fate this fall, but Anthony’s injury probably hits the door close to every chance he had to win the Al Rookie of the Year Award. At this point, the athletics’ Nick Kurtz Figures to be the opportunities, with 28 homers (including four in one match), a 177 WRC+and 4.2 war-all tops in rookies in both competitions. It would have taken a kind of great September and a key role in a play -off drdering for Anthony to overcome those benefits.

If there is good news for the Red Sox, it is that they played pretty well despite dealing with a whole series of injuries. According to the Baseball Prospectus InjuryTheir 1,434 player games lost from injury in fifth place in the Majors behind the Dodgers, Astros, Mets and Orioles. Still, with the exception of Alex BregmanThose seven weeks in the first half missed because of a correct quad tribe, none of the other absence of position players of Anthony’s caliber, and at a time when the team is a neck fencing for the best wildcard spot, could play the difference between playing between playing The Best-of-Three Wild Card series Entirely in Fenway Park (as the best wildcard and fourth seed) and to do this at the Yankee Stadium (as the second wildcard and the fifth seed). There is no perish: this injury really hurts.