As excited as Boston Red Sox fans have been about Roman Anthony's talent since his rookie season (and even before then), they've been just as frustrated by his lack of durability. This isn't an attempt to take a shot at Anthony himself, a player who seems just as frustrated by all of the missed time and should not be blamed in any way for his body betraying him.
Rather, it's an acknowledgment that the jury is still out on whether Anthony's body will or will not continue to betray him in the future. Zooming out, it's a question about whether Boston's decision to invest in Anthony long-term will end up looking like a loss.
For now, all we can focus on is the coming 2027 campaign when it comes to these questions. And sadly, the way Anthony's injury reacted to an extended break in 2026 doesn't necessarily bode well for next season.
Can Red Sox fans be confident that Roman Anthony's hand/wrist injury won't flare up in 2027?
Anthony suffered a rare injury in 2026 that has since been identified as a partially torn carpometacarpal (CMC) ligament. This is the ligament/joint area connecting his right ring finger to his wrist.
From the beginning of this injury saga, there's been a ton of mystery, confusion, and unprecedented (or even unknown) factors at play. The diagnosis of the injury itself was initially a wrist sprain only. When one hand doctor later arrived at the proper diagnosis, that doctor also said that they'd never encountered a torn CMC ligament in decades of practice.
That only opened up more questions. Was there a surgical fix available? The answer was no, and remains no entering the offseason. How much time would Anthony have to miss? That answer kept changing, with Anthony's return date perpetually pushed back throughout the 2026 season. Eventually, the continual delay give birth to unfortunate narratives that hurt Anthony's reputation. 'Is he just soft?' fans and even some media members unfairly wondered aloud.
And here's the most concerning element in all of this for Red Sox Nation: Anthony's hand/wrist never fully healed in 2026, even after 4.5 months of rest. Anthony has since admitted that his hand never felt 100% by the time he re-entered the Red Sox lineup, despite missing 101 games rehabbing the injury.
When Anthony had to remove himself from the AL Wild Card Series, fans were dumbfounded. In addition to aggravating the original ligament problem, imaging showed that Anthony had also strained different muscles in the hand and wrist. As often happens with athletes playing injured, Anthony suffered a separate injury while compensating for his existing one.
Boston outfielder Roman Anthony has damage to muscles in his wrist that is different than the finger injury he previously suffered, Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said. Boston is looking to replace him on the roster, and Jahmai Jones will take Anthony's spot atop the lineup tonight.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 30, 2026
Is an offseason of rest really going to heal Roman Anthony's hand?
MassLive's Sean McAdam posed a great question this week: Why should we be so sure that Anthony's injury is going to heal fully over the offseason when it didn't heal after 4.5 months of no activity in 2026? Again, with practically no medical cases to compare Anthony's injury to, no one really knows for sure what the timeline of recovery is here, or how prone Anthony will be to re-aggravation once the injury is "healed."
And so, while Red Sox fans want to be optimistic that Anthony will play his first full season with the club in 2027, skepticism is unfortunately warranted.
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