Against all odds, the Boston Red Sox are back in the mix.
Now riding a six-game win streak and winners of 14 of their last 19, the once lifeless club finds themselves just 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot in a wide-open American League. With just one series remaining until the All-Star break, the Sox just put together the kind of run that can turn a season around, or at the very least keep them afloat long enough to avoid a trade deadline fire sale.
But the surging Red Sox still have a big question that can determine how well this momentum carries into the second half.
When Will the Red Sox have Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet Back?
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Boston's impressive stretch has come without their two best players Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet. The young slugger and star ace went down within two weeks of each other at the end of April and into the first few days of May.
For both players, it looked like just a precautionary IL stint was in order before they would be back to full strength. But now, more than two months later, there is no clear timeline for when the two invaluable pieces will be back on the field.
The latest on Anthony came earlier this week, when manager Chad Tracy revealed that he was set to see a new hand specialist in Atlanta and would continue his rehab down at the spring training facility in Fort Myers, Florida.
Tracy explained that the decision was due to a crowded training room in Boston, with the hope that he can “get away from all he’s doing” around Fenway and just focus on recovering.
Like in all other follow-up appointments, Anthony's imaging came up clean and showed that everything is healing properly. Yet there has still been no substantial progress and no clear timeline for a return other than the belief that he is "on the right track."
Earlier this week, Pittsburgh Pirates young star Konnor Griffin suffered a torn tendon in his left ring finger, a very similar injury to what Anthony is dealing with. His timeline, which was explained clearly by the team's director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk, is estimated to be 8-10 weeks. Anthony is now on week nine but has seen a few minor setbacks throughout.
The updates on Crochet have been similar, with the latest coming about two weeks ago when he told MassLive's Chris Cotillo that he has been throwing with plyometric balls, but still not real baseballs.
Getting back into this throwing program was a big step for Crochet, who had his rehab shut down a couple of times while trying to recover from a shoulder and then a lat injury. The 26-year-old left-hander has insisted that he is not concerned with these setbacks and remains hopeful that he will be back with the team sometime soon.
The Red Sox rotation has been stellar in the absence of their ace. But now facing injuries to Connelly Early and Ranger Suarez, the status of Crochet is becoming increasingly important.
Scraping together wins without these two stars is certainly no easy task, and if the club wants to elevate from frisky Wild Card hopeful to real contender, they will need them back sooner rather than later. And while the lack of reported progress is a concern, the sheer time off could be a sign that a big step forward is only a matter of time.
Still stuck in between buying and selling, the return of a true ace and a star bat could be exactly what the Red Sox need to make a strong postseason push without expending the assets necessary to make a big trade.
