Roman Anthony is Going on the IL, and is Expected to Miss 4-6 Weeks
How it was:
How it was going a few hours ago:
How it is now:
In the normal course of things, I'd interject here with my own philosophy on baseball injuries. That I miss the days when they would all involve an action verb. Break. Tear. Pull. And involve a part of the body that any preschooler knows from the song, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." (Which disqualified virtually every tight lat and finger abrasion that ever landed Clay Buccholz on the IL for months at a time). But even though straining your oblique only meets half the criteria, now is not the time for such talk
This is a colossal blow to a team that had really found itself over the past couple of months. Truth be told, the timing could not be worse:
SI - After emerging as the No. 1 prospect in baseball, Anthony got promoted back in June, and he quickly became one of the top hitters in Boston's lineup. In 71 games, Anthony is hitting .292 with eight home runs and 32 RBIs, and he is fresh off winning American League Rookie of the Month for August. …
Entering play on Friday, the Red Sox currently hold the No. 2 wild card spot in the American League, while also being just 2.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the No. 1 seed in the AL East. Losing Anthony, though, will hurt them quite a bit, especially since another outfielder of theirs, Wilyer Abreu, is also on the injured list.
Boston has built up a decent lead in the wild card race, as it holds a 4.5-game lead over the Seattle Mariners, who hold the No. 3 seed currently. No lead is insurmountable, though, and it is also worth noting that the Mariners are in a tight race for the AL West with the Houston Astros currently. …
In the meantime, it will be worth keeping tabs on the New York Yankees, who are also 2.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East, to see if they can put some distance between themselves and the Red Sox.
In that machine they've built, you can now remove their leadoff hitter, the team leader in OBP, SLG and OPS, and a corner outfielder playing the toughest right field in the league. Not to mention the guy who was probably going to lead the club in merchandise sales the rest of the way.
Now it's up to the rest of the lineup and Alex Cora to figure out a workaround. Just note that the Sox were 34-35 before Anthony’s debut on June 9th. and are 40-25 since. So this is looking grim. And I have a hard time believing that weeks after signing him to an 8-year deal, the team will be the least bit interested in rushing him back.
I'm not about to suggest this is going to be something chronic or Anthony's going to spend his career dealing with medical issues. Not by any stretch. But this is why a young guy is not so crazy taking that $130 million when it's offered to him after all.