When will it be time to call up Roman Anthony?

How much more of this offense are you going to sacrifice?

Yesterday, Matt Gross wrote a great piece on the prospect that the 2025 Red Sox are poised to break out. They’re playing .500 ball despite a number of unusually poor individual performances, signaling that things could turn around if certain things occur, leading to the break-out of this middling slump.

I’m less inclined to agree with this point of view.

This team is FULL of talent. Garrett Crochet is a pig in the truest sense, looking like the ace the Red Sox have needed since the days of healthy Chris Sale in 2018. The rest of the starting rotation hasn’t looked amazing aside from growth coming from Walker Buehler, but Brayan Bello looks to be coming back soon and Lucas Giolito shouldn’t be too far behind.

The bullpen shone on Wednesday and has honestly been a consistent part of the roster this season so far, something I didn’t’ predict. They’re even likely to get Liam Hendricks back for this upcoming series. Despite some ugly losses with double digit runs, it doesn’t feel like the pitching is throwing up too many red flags for me at the moment.

But the offense is teeming with alarm bells and sirens galore.

I would argue there are maybe four players in the lineup doing what they need to do. Trevor Story has been a revelation as a healthy shortstop, making great plays in the field and showcasing some pop. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is extremely high but it’s been a difference-maker. Alex Bregman—while sloppy defensively—leads the team in homers and RBI. Wilyer Abreu has slowed down some but got off to inarguably the hottest start in baseball. Kristian Campbell is a project panning out so far, batting .302 with three dingers and drawing 10 walks. But those are the only guys I’m happy with in this lineup.

Rafael Devers is rounding into from his short spring training finally, but he leads the squad with 28 strikeouts. Jarren Duran and Triston Casas are mired in funks at the dish. Ceddanne Rafaela is looking like Jackie Bradley Jr—incredible in the field, faltering at the dish. Catching has taken a hit in the batters box with the loss of Connor Wong.

The 2025 Boston Red Sox rank fourteenth in the Majors in OPS and first in strikeouts. Something is clearly not working between Pete Fatse, the Driveline crew, and this current roster. Fatse may be on the hot seat, but there’s an obvious move before that may happen: Call up Roman Anthony.

Batting .283 with an OPS of .941, two homers and seven RBI, the surface level metrics are attractive enough. But look at what’s underneath it.

This is certifiably insane baseball to be playing. It looks like a man against boys, and this is AAA baseball. It may be the minors but it’s one step from the big leagues, it’s not high-A ball. I thought it would be a challenge to figure out where Anthony would fit on the roster. Do you sacrifice Rafaela or Duran on the bench to have Anthony in the outfield? Does Casas sit and take a metal break even though Roman has never played first base in his professional career? What about splitting DH time with Devers for now? We seemingly have an answer to this but another wrinkle: he’s banged up.

It’s a curse and a blessing seeing Chris’ commentary on this. Having a clear-enough vision on how the Red Sox plan on using him makes me feel a lot more comfortable — there’s a true plan in place for Anthony’s usage and he won’t just be forced up in a manner that could stunt his development. He’s hurt, though. They’re taking the cautious route with Anthony, leaving the big league club to either figure it out without him or continue to mire in mediocrity until he’s ready for a full-time role.

To me, however, the answer is still clear. This Red Sox offense is not good right now. It’s missing balance, it’s missing pop. Roman Anthony looks to be the solution to a lot of problems. As soon as he’s healthy to play the field, why not call him up right away? There are other fixes too; the lineup construction needs to change and good hitters need to shake out of slumps. But Anthony is the shakeup that might matter the most.