Since aggravating his previous sprain while suffering additional injuries during Game 1 last week, Roman Anthony has had several follow-up appointments and undergone a fresh round of imaging on his right hand.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said based on those visits, the expectation is Anthony won’t need surgery.
“At this point it doesn’t seem that there’s any type of surgical intervention and rest is likely the best path for recovery,” Breslow said.
Anthony’s health and the handling of his injury was a consistent focus of the hourlong press conference, with the club’s leaders pressed on whether they knew he was playing through pain, if it would have made sense to undergo additional imaging before he was activated to weigh the risk of a recurrence and if the club is concerned the injury could become a chronic problem.
Over the course of the session Breslow defended the club’s process, saying everyone was on the same page throughout the summer.
“I think we had a pretty good understanding of what the diagnosis was and that Roman was very confident he could contribute, and over the course of a game there would be a swing or two that might give him he’d describe it as a bit of a zinger, and a few seconds later that feeling would subside,” Breslow said. “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 we were doing the medically responsible thing and not trying to put him in any greater danger.”
Breslow added later that there is a big difference between rest during the season while trying to get back and perform and rest in the offseason when you can truly shut it down and allow your body to recover.
As far as other Red Sox injuries are concerned, Breslow said third baseman Caleb Durbin’s pinky is still being evaluated and it remains undetermined if he’ll need surgery.
Garrett Crochet, who missed most of the season with a left shoulder injury, came out of his Wednesday outing feeling good and is positioned for a full healthy offseason. Breslow was asked for clarity on the specific nature of his injury, which has never been disclosed beyond “left shoulder inflammation,” but did not offer a formal diagnosis.
“The imaging that we got revealed some irritation and strain to the shoulder,” Breslow said. “But as we started to peel back the layers it made more and more sense to make sure we were getting this right for the long term as opposed to just getting him back on the field as quickly as we could.”
Extra innings
Breslow confirmed that Aroldis Chapman passed his physical, formally triggering his $13 million vesting option for next season. Breslow said the team hasn’t made a decision on Garrett Whitlock’s $8.25 million club option for 2027. … Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said the club hasn’t made a decision on any of the coaches who were brought up midseason and that a decision on their futures will be made in the coming days. … While Tracy stopped short of declaring Curtis Mead the club’s starting second baseman in 2027, he said that is “broadly our plan.”