Boston Red Sox
It was not responsible to put Anthony in the leadoff spot without much support behind him.
Roman Anthony had just one home run and five RBIs before exiting the lineup with a wrist injury. Finn Gomez For The Boston Globe
May 21, 2026 | 11:49 AM
3 minutes to read
Playing nine innings while figuring 53-year-old Manny Ramirez and 50-year-old David Ortiz would upgrade this Red Sox lineup …
1. Of all the frustrations, disappointments, and second-guesses that were really first-guesses about the 2026 Red Sox — and we will get to most of those — the one that bothers me the most is the immediate demand to be great that they put on Roman Anthony. I’m not saying it was unreasonable to expect that he would be excellent — he looked like a superstar in the making after his call-up last season, and one that had arrived during the World Baseball Classic this spring. But it was not responsible to put Anthony in the leadoff spot without much support behind him. He missed the professional and patient Alex Bregman behind him, and at 21 years old, he took on the weight of having to be the Red Sox’ best hitter, because there were very few others on the lineup card with the capability. His season has been a lost one — one homer, five RBIs, and now an absence because of a wrist injury — and it all makes me question again whether the Red Sox know how to best prepare their most promising young players. I have no doubt he will be great, presuming good health. But the Red Sox, with their poor lineup construction, required him to be great a little too soon.
2. The Red Sox are playing better, largely because of superb pitching from the non-Bello members of the rotation and a defense that, per The Fielding Bible, far and away leads the majors in defensive runs saved (46, 14 more than the Dodgers at No. 2). And they were just 2½ games out of a wild-card spot as of Wednesday afternoon despite their lousy 21-27 record. There is hope, or whatever you call it when your team still has a chance despite having some potentially insurmountable and incredibly annoying flaws.
3. My colleague Mr. Shaughnessy refers to it as the “illusion of contention,” essentially the quest to remain relevant enough to keep Fenway Park full and the concession stands busy through late September. Right now, to me, that illusion feels like a delusion, still, because of the ineptitude of the offense and the likelihood that it cannot (or will not) be repaired this summer. There are no realistic trades that would constitute an easy fix, and no obvious solutions from within.
4. Through Thursday’s game, the Red Sox are batting .240, with a .314 on-base percentage and .366 slugging. Offense is down across Major League Baseball — 15 teams, including the Yankees, have a lower team batting average than the Red Sox. Still, the entire team is essentially producing like 1997 Rudy Pemberton (.238/.314/.365). Pemberton was fun for a moment, but that’s not what you want.
Willson Contreras has been one of the best hitters on the Red Sox in his first season with the team. – Brynn Anderson
5. Willson Contreras (.866 OPS, 10 homers) and Wilyer Abreu (.797 OPS) have held up their end of the deal, and Ceddanne Rafaela (.792 OPS) has admirably overperformed, a rarity on this roster. Jarren Duran has shown some sparks recently, and maybe Marcelo Mayer will start to zip through his learning curve. Otherwise, where is the hope? Carlos Narvaez hit .187 in the second half last season. Caleb Durbin has put 118 balls in play this season and barreled one.
6. It’s offensive — absolutely no pun intended, honest — how little chief baseball officer Craig Breslow did to aid the offense in the offseason. Exactly a year ago Thursday, the Nos. 2-3 hitters in their lineup were Rafael Devers (.931 OPS at the time) and Bregman (.954). They’re gone, and Durbin (.492 OPS) is the third baseman. Contreras was a fine pickup, but he’s a complementary player in the kind of prolific offense we’re used to around here, not someone who should be burdened with carrying it.
7. Breslow whiffed in not bringing in another big bat. That cannot be denied if you watch this team, or groan when the lineup is released each day. Pete Alonso has been just OK with the Orioles (nine homers, .744 OPS), but it shouldn’t be assumed that he’d have similar numbers with the Sox. Numbers in one situation, accumulated in different ballparks against different pitchers under different circumstances, cannot be extrapolated exactly to another situation.
8. All right, all of that was pretty, pretty negative. A couple of positives? How about young lefthanders Payton Tolle and Connelly Early combining for a 2.87 ERA in 84⅔ innings through the latter’s start Thursday? And then there’s Aroldis Chapman, who has saved 12 of the Red Sox’ 22 victories, with a 0.51 ERA in 18 appearances. Chapman recently fireballed his way into 10th place on the all-time saves list (379). Would it be fair to vote for Chapman for the Hall of Fame but not Craig Kimbrel, fifth with 440 saves? I think so. I remember October 2018.
9. I know. I can’t believe Manny is 53 and Big Papi 50, either. I swear someone among the world’s sudden abundance of evil geniuses has figured out a way to accelerate time.
Chad Finn
Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.
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