The Boston Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and five prominent members of his coaching staff on Saturday, and the next day Roman Anthony — out since Tuesday with a sore upper back — was back in the lineup, batting third as the designated hitter in the club’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.
The snap decisions at the top of the organization coincided with a roster moment that raised questions: Anthony, who had missed several games because of a sore upper back, was given a prime spot in the order despite a clear stretch of struggles. Since the start of last August he has suffered three minor to major back issues, and he had been a team concern for four consecutive games before returning Sunday.
The numbers underline why his placement mattered. In his first 22 games of the season Anthony produced a.225/.361/.325 slash line with one home run, four RBIs and 25 strikeouts. Those offensive figures were paired with defensive miscues — a series of bad throws from left field during that same span — making his return into the No. 3 hole a notable vote of confidence from the interim staff.
All of this unfolded against the team’s poor start. The Red Sox entered the weekend off an abysmal 10-17 start when the front office dismissed Cora and five prominent members of his coaching staff on Saturday. The firings were abrupt; the lineup changes that followed were immediate. Anthony’s return to a middle-of-the-order role came less than 48 hours after the managerial shakeup.
Interim skipper Chad Tracy is familiar with Anthony. Tracy was Anthony’s manager at Triple-A, a fact that helps explain the lineup choice without resolving the unease it created: the player with recurring back problems and an early-season slump was elevated to one of the most consequential batting slots under a manager who has direct experience handling him.
The sequences create friction. The club moved to replace its major-league coaching leadership on Saturday, signaling a need for correction. On Sunday, however, the new regime entrusted a player who had been laboring through health and performance dips with a central offensive responsibility. That tension — between a personnel purge meant to prompt change and a lineup choice that kept a struggling, recently injured hitter in a starring role — frames how the team’s short-term strategy will be judged.
For Anthony the facts are plain: he missed time after going out Tuesday with a sore upper back, he has a recent history of back trouble stretching back to last August, and his early-season production through 22 games has been underwhelming by the raw numbers. For Tracy, the calculation was also simple on paper: play the hitter you know from Triple-A in a spot that can move runners and produce runs immediately.
The clearest unresolved question now is whether Anthony can convert the second chance into sustained health and clearer production under Tracy. If he stays healthy and breaks from the.225/.361/.325 line that defined his first 22 games, the decision to bat him third will look prescient; if the back problems persist or the strikeouts continue to outpace run creation, it will amplify the sense that the organization’s shake-up has yet to produce the on-field turnaround it sought.
