Ahead of Thursday afternoon’s 10-2 loss to the Braves, Boston Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony revealed the full extent of the injury that has kept him out of the lineup since May 5. Anthony’s comments directly contradicted the team's messaging and are a microcosm of a much larger issue the organization has with communication.

What happened?

WEEI’s Greg Hill reported last week that the 22-year-old Anthony had torn a ligament in his finger, rather than a sprain as the team had been reporting. When Red Sox president Sam Kennedy was asked about Hill’s report, he thoroughly refuted it, saying, “There’s no evidence of a tear. The imaging is negative.”

Less than one week later, Anthony sat down with WEEI’s Rob Bradford as a part of the Red Sox pregame show in which he all but confirmed Hill’s reporting. “It’s a partially torn ring finger ligament in my ring finger CMC to be exact," Anthony told Bradford.

The team's messaging surrounding Anthony's injury is just the latest in a concerning trend for Boston. After placing the 22-year-old on the injured list, the team remained optimistic he would spend just the minimum 10 days there. The same was said for ace Garrett Crochet, who hit the IL on April 29 with left shoulder inflammation. Now, almost a month later, both players remain on the shelf.

No stranger to mixed messaging

Whether it be Fenway Sports Group chairman Tom Werner's 2024 "full throttle" proclamation, Kennedy's 2024 Winter Weekend assertion that fans who don't believe ownership is committed to winning are liars, Boston has been no stranger to poor messaging since the last World Series title in 2018.

There is perhaps no better example of communication issues than the 2025 saga that led to the trade that sent Rafael Devers to San Francisco. Then-manager Alex Cora spent the offseason proclaiming that Alex Bregman was a perfect fit for second base as they pursued him in free agency, reaffirming their commitment to Devers at third base. Yet, once Bregman signed, the tenor quickly changed, and Bregman was named the third baseman, permanently severing the relationship between the team and their franchise player.

The notion that the Red Sox are an organization in constant disarray has spread throughout Major League Baseball. Take the 2023 search for former President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom's replacement for example: The idea that Fenway Sports Group is constantly shifting its organizational philosophy and giving chief decision-makers a small window to produce results or be shown the door led Boston to interview nearly a dozen candidates before landing on Breslow. What should be one of the premier positions in all of sports has become too volatile to land top-of-the-line candidates.

Fenway Sports Group's problems are consistently of their own making. If the Red Sox are going to right the ship on what has been the worst six-year stretch of FSG's 24-year tenure, it must start with consistent messaging.

The Red Sox are 23-32 and in last place in the American League East.

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