With Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony out of the lineup, the Red Sox have been lacking star power
The two most important members of the Red Sox — left fielder Roman Anthony and ace starter Garrett Crochet — have been stacking up days on the injured list.
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Crochet has not appeared in a game since April 25, the day Alex Cora was fired as manager. Anthony has been out since May 5.
Interim manager Chad Tracy was handed the keys to a car missing a tire, then the transmission seized up a week later.
Both cases have been a bit strange.
Crochet said on April 29 that his shoulder lost strength during spring training and never bounced back. The hope was that he would miss only the minimum 15 days, but now it’s clear it will be well over a month.
In February, Crochet decided to skip the World Baseball Classic because he was committed to preparing for the season and wanted to spend all the time he could with his newborn daughter. That was admirable. Then he posted a 6.30 earned run average over six starts before admitting his shoulder wasn’t feeling right.
Crochet faced hitters for an inning at Fenway Park on Tuesday afternoon and said he felt fine. But he’s going to need at least one more such session before being ready for a minor league game.
At best, he’s out for another two weeks. Throwing him right into a major league game would be irresponsible at this point.
“I’m just now starting to build up,” Crochet said before a 7-6 loss to the Braves.
Anthony was injured in Detroit on May 4 when he fouled off a pitch in the first inning. The Sox said he went on the IL to be cautious, and now his absence has hit three weeks.
What was first said to be a wrist injury proved to be a sprained ligament at the base of his ring finger, so essentially the same. That’s not the sort of thing you can tape up and play.
The news on Tuesday was that Anthony took a dozen or so practice swings and only felt discomfort at the end of the swing. It has been a slow process.
“A step in the right direction,” Tracy said.
But Anthony has gone 22 days without playing. He’ll need to progress from practice swings to swinging at balls on a tee, to swinging at balls flipped to him, then to taking batting practice off a coach before facing a pitcher.
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That’s at least another 7-10 days. Then he will almost certainly need some minor league games.
Since being called up last June 9, Anthony has missed 47 of a possible 148 games. That has led a few assorted nitwits to suggest he’s soft.
An oblique strain and a wrist injury aren’t injuries that heal on a schedule. Anthony very much wants to be playing. He looks miserable in the clubhouse.
Meanwhile, Tracy has yet to manage a game when Crochet has pitched, and he’s had Anthony for 29 at-bats.
The rotation is 10-8 with a 3.69 ERA without Crochet, thanks to Payton Tolle pitching so well. But the Sox have averaged only 3.8 runs with a .710 OPS since Anthony went on the IL.
“You know what he’s capable of doing when he’s in there. It’s not just home runs and doubles,” Tracy said. “He’s got a good eye for the zone. You know when he’s going right, he doesn’t swing at balls, and he finds his way on base.
“Another hitter that gets on base is helpful. He means a lot to us. But at the same time, we want him healthy. If you have a bad wrist or hand, it’s not going to help us.”
Jarren Duran has hit .189 since replacing Anthony in left field. He also remains hitting leadoff despite a .269 on-base percentage for the season.
For a Red Sox team that is lacking offensively even when fully healthy, Anthony’s absence has been felt. He had also been playing excellent defense in left field, with five Defensive Runs Saved in only 16 games.
The Sox roster was thin before the injuries. Taking away two of their stars made it almost transparent.
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