Zolak and Bertrand discuss the latest about Roman Anthony's injury.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
#mlb #redsox #baseball
Thumbnail photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
#mlb #redsox #baseball
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00:00The odds for the Red Sox going deep into the playoffs, I think, just took a dive.
00:07I don't know. Wait and see what it is.
00:09I mean, the tonality of it doesn't sound good.
00:11It doesn't sound good.
00:15I'm not doing the, have you ever had an oblique strain?
00:18I've had them.
00:19And?
00:19Tell us about it.
00:21They're a bitch.
00:23Because it feels like, it does.
00:25I mean, I've had broken ribs.
00:26I had broken ribs in college.
00:27I had cracked ribs in the pros.
00:30I've had a couple throws where all of a sudden you feel it go.
00:33And it's that thing between the rib, the rib bones.
00:38And it just feels like you have a knife stuck in there.
00:40And whether you turn, whether you breathe, whether you lay down, it stays with you.
00:44It stays with you for a while, a couple weeks.
00:47And they could shoot it up.
00:50I mean, but they don't shoot it up.
00:52This is a different heart.
00:53You're trying to hit a baseball.
00:55Well.
00:55The hardest thing to do in sports.
00:56I can tell you this.
00:57I learned last night.
00:58Have you guys ever heard of the, of P-Bats?
01:02You ever heard of this?
01:03No.
01:04Milliken's heard of a lot of things and a lot of acronyms.
01:06What, you pee on your bat and you get lucky?
01:08But, but P-Bats is the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society.
01:13Jesus Christ.
01:15This is like the.
01:16You ever heard of that?
01:16This is like the internet doctors, right?
01:18Is this like the internet doctors?
01:19No, it's a, it's a society.
01:20It's a, it's a professional.
01:22Secret society.
01:23Yeah.
01:23Cloaks and stuff like that.
01:24Yeah.
01:27It's a professional organization.
01:30Of baseball athletic trainers.
01:33And they have an entire page devoted to, you guessed it.
01:37Sounds like fun.
01:38Oblique injuries and return to play.
01:41Now they lament that there have not been more studies.
01:47I'll bring that back this weekend, please.
01:48I don't know what this has to do with society.
01:50It's third down and third three.
01:52Third three, man.
01:53That's what I pictured.
01:53Third and three.
01:54Let's go.
01:55Opening week.
01:56Don't do that.
01:57Don't throw the show off already.
01:59You're supposed to play that though after you get the first down.
02:01I thought it was a third and two.
02:02No, I did play that after the first down.
02:05Like we're marching down the field.
02:07It's just a fear, you know, strike fear into the opponent.
02:11I didn't know what the hell that was.
02:12And get the crowd going.
02:13That was like, that was like Curtis Martin picked up the first down.
02:16Oh, Pittsburgh.
02:16Yeah.
02:17And the fog.
02:18Yes.
02:18You know, Terry Glenn caught the ball.
02:21That's first play.
02:22Falling out of the fog.
02:23We ran that play.
02:23Oh, we.
02:2512 times.
02:2612 times of practice.
02:27Anyway, back to this guys.
02:29Pbats.
02:29Professional Baseball Athletic Trainer Society.
02:34They lament that there have not been more studies conducted on injuries to obliques because
02:41they feel it is a more common injury than people give it credit for in baseball.
02:44They do have some data on a study that was done from 91 to 2010.
02:51And during that time, oblique strains accounted for 5% of all injuries in Major League Baseball.
02:58The injury slowed position players and pitchers alike.
03:02And hitters suffered the injury rate at 46%, pitchers 35%, and non-pitching throwers 6%.
03:12So the majority of, or not even the majority, but the most of these happen.
03:17Right?
03:18You're more likely to get this as a hitter than anything else on the field.
03:21Yeah.
03:21That they know.
03:22Now, the process to return and timeline to return.
03:27That's not great.
03:29The data showed that on average, pitchers required 35 days with an oblique injury.
03:37And position players took an average of 26 days to be able to play at any level.
03:4726 days before playing again.
03:50So he'll be back for the ALCS.
03:51Before hitting, before throwing a baseball, before any of that.
03:55Which means like 26 days to a rehab stint?
03:59Yeah, you're just not going to throw him out there and start swinging.
04:02Yeah.
04:03That would be one day right now before the wild card round with no rehab.
04:07With the traject machines, maybe you can avoid the rehab.
04:09I know that's a little different, but he's not going to be swinging for a large portion of us.
04:12And so this is what I would ask you.
04:14Do you think that that was on the mild end of the oblique strains last night?
04:19The promising end of the oblique strains.
04:23No.
04:23I don't either.
04:24Because he went right down.
04:25Man, he was swinging from his ass on that one, man.
04:28That was a hard swing.
04:30That was a really hard swing.
04:31And he immediately clutched his side.
04:34Well, he said postgame, too.
04:35He felt it on the check swing at first.
04:37And then it was that following swing when then, like you said, it's just...
04:39It started to tear and then I get...
04:41Yeah.
04:42The tone is not great.
04:43Here he is postgame.
04:44We'll also get to Bregman postgame.
04:46But first, Roman Anthony.
04:47It's one of those things that just cropped up on you today.
04:49You've been dealing with this for a while.
04:51No.
04:52I felt it today on the check swing.
04:54The pitch before, I swung a miss for a strikeout.
04:57And, yeah, just pretty sudden.
05:00What's your concern level right now?
05:03I'm not really sure.
05:05I'll see you tomorrow after the MRI.
05:08Have you ever experienced oblique issues before?
05:11No, I have not.
05:14In terms of severity, is this different than, you know, like you got scratched for the lower back.
05:19Is this comparable in terms of discomfort or is it pretty clearly separate?
05:23Yeah, this is definitely worse in terms of the way it feels.
05:28But, you know, that's right now.
05:30And I just, again, have to reevaluate where I'm at tomorrow.
05:33And, you know, see where we are when the MRI comes back.
05:38Do you feel like it's at least a 10th AIL probably?
05:41I don't know.
05:42I wish I knew.
05:43I haven't dealt with something like this before.
05:44So I'd be lying if I said I knew.
05:47But, again, you know, we'll know in the morning, I'm sure.
05:51How disappointing is it to suffer, even a minor issue right now, at a time like this, at this point in the year?
05:58Yeah, it sucks.
05:59I, you know, hoping for the best and staying positive.
06:03But anytime I'm not out there, I'm pretty pissed off.
06:06It sucks.
06:08It's so odd from other sports that he just, right after the game, you're going to put him out there and let him talk about it.
06:14Most players get shut down.
06:15Like, we don't know yet.
06:16We're going to get the test.
06:17It's an obvious one, though.
06:18I mean, you can see it.
06:20You know what he heard.
06:21Watch, just like watch him walk to the dugout.
06:24And it's just like he keeps having to put his hand on the hip.
06:26And it's...
06:27He's in pain.
06:28Yeah.
06:28I'm sure he does not feel great this morning.
06:32No.
06:37I bet getting out of bed was a struggle today.
06:39Yikes.
06:40A couple perks, about five beers.
06:42There you go.
06:43Yeah.
06:44Yep.
06:44There it is.
06:45Put him on a good rehab.
06:46Get him on a nice mattress.
06:48Make sleep on a couch.
06:49He sounded down.
06:50He sounded like he knew it was not good.
06:52He doesn't sound like a guy who's expecting good news this morning when he gets that MRI.
06:56Re-injury rate, by the way, is at 12%.
06:58On these injuries for ballplayers, about a third of them are in the same or following season.
07:05Which, as the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainer Society would tell you, makes it vital that the return-to-play protocol is designed with a slow progression.
07:16And return-to-on-field activities are not rushed in any way.
07:22Okay.
07:23So, to your bats thing.
07:25Is there an age thing on this?
07:26Do they break it down by age, potentially?
07:28Like, this feels like something like a 32, 33-year-old player, like a Canseco, late in his career would get.
07:34Like, you know, Ortiz or something.
07:35The first time I ever heard of an oblique injury was Manny Ramirez in 2007, in late August.
07:39And he made it back for the final homestand.
07:41It was a left oblique strain.
07:43That was the guy that did it the right way, in terms of rehab.
07:45That's what I'm saying.
07:46That's kind of a guy who was not in the best shape, that kind of was aloof at times.
07:49He was on those pregnancy drugs, too.
07:51Now, want to hear something interesting, Milliken?
07:52And I know you have personal experience with this now, with the cortisone injection.
07:56Go ahead.
07:57If you have a cortisone injection or the plasma-rich, the PRP, it sets you back, on average, another additional 11 days.
08:08The shot does?
08:08Yeah.
08:09So that's been Milliken's problem.
08:11Isn't that interesting?
08:12Yeah.
08:12That's the difference between before the wildcard round and probably close to the end of the ALDS.
08:15So that, to me, was an interesting tidbit that I hadn't considered, that by getting some treatment that might make you feel better,
08:22you actually end up setting yourself back in the rehab another 11 days, on average.
08:27What about his back patch he wore when he was in there?
08:29I don't know about the lidocaine back patches.
08:31Hope this kid has good pain tolerance.
08:32I hope he does.
08:33We don't know.
08:34And that's the thing with these things.
08:36You don't know.
08:37Everybody's different.
08:38You can't.
08:38It's not a third-degree high ankle sprain, you know, or hamstring tear.
08:43Like, this, you can feel better in a week.
08:46You can feel better in three weeks.
08:47All right.
08:47We'll play Bregman coming back on the other side.
08:49I'd read more into Bregman here.
08:51Bregman, to me, is the guy who's been around the block and just knows what injuries are like and knows how long they take
08:57and has probably seen it with teammates before.
08:59He's still got one of himself.
09:01Bregman's wishing the kid a good offseason, the way he was talking.
09:05It was a hell of a ride, man.
09:06It was like, hey, great job this year, kid.
09:07All right.
09:08Tough news.
09:08Tough break.
09:09We'll catch you next season.
09:10See you on the golf course.
09:11That's what it sounded like to me.
09:13I'm reading into that quite a bit, but you can hear it for yourself and make your own determination on it.
09:19You'll hear from Alex Bregman coming up next.
09:21Also, Garrett Crochet gets beat up last night.
09:24We can get into that, where he stands, how he's pitching at this point in the season.
09:28That's all coming up and your calls on Zolak and Bertrand.
09:32Jeez, Alex, it's just an oblique strain.
09:35He's going to play baseball again.
09:37I think Alex has been around the block a little bit.
09:41He sounded pretty convinced that it was like over.
09:45Like, ah, well, you know, just got to move on without him.
09:48You know, he lost a lot of good men out there.
09:50There's a million ways.
09:51The war goes on.
09:52Obviously, today was a bit of a gut punch for us.
09:55Lick your wounds, put some bad days on, and kind of MacGyver this thing through the next month.
09:59That was code for we were already a bat short, and now we just lost potentially our best bat in the lineup.
10:04Since the moment he debuted, he leads the team in batting average, OBP, OPS, and WRC+.
10:09Like, he is truthfully the bat.
10:13OBP, batting average, OPS, WRC+.
10:16How about the kid's a draw?
10:18The kid brings you to the freaking TV.
10:20He's the best bat in the lineup.
10:22I like him.
10:23He's fun to watch.
10:24And he saved their season.
10:25He was.
10:26Because their lineup blows.
10:27He was the replacement for Rafael Devers.
10:29Yes, your pitching has been the best in the big leagues going back to June 8th.
10:32We get that.
10:32But he was the one who allowed you to move on from Rafael Devers and stay afloat.
10:36Now, with him and William Abreu, who had seemingly another setback, this is a massive thing to see what this lineup is going to do.
10:43And credit to them.
10:44The last two games, the offense showed up.
10:45Since the All-Star break, they're 17th in WRC+.
10:48Like, they are not.
10:49They are very average.
10:50This is not a top 10 team.
10:52They're 13th in OPS.
10:52Stop telling us things we already know.
10:5313th in OPS.
10:54However you want to frame it.
10:56This is not an elite offense.
10:57So, this is such a major thing to subtract.
10:59I think if you watch this team, you know they're not an elite offense.
11:02You know it's the thing that could absolutely be the issue that stops them dead in their tracks.
11:06No, the check engine light is blinking right now.
11:09If we're sticking with the car analogy.
11:10Especially with Roman Anthony now not in the lineup.
11:12Well, I would say the check engine light has been on for pretty much the entire season with the lineup.
11:17And you've been able to drive it around.
11:19You know, it was just a sensor issue at first.
11:22So, the light was on.
11:24But you were driving to work every day with it.
11:25It didn't matter.
11:26You're still getting to work.
11:27Now you're broken down on the side of the road.
11:29Now you need a tow.
11:31You ever get your inspection down and put a piece of black tape like over that light?
11:34No.
11:34No, I've never done that.
11:37There's no way.
11:38I've done it.
11:39It's past.
11:40Not lately.
11:41I'm talking like 30 years ago.
11:43No, I can't say I've ever done that.
11:45I used to put, my grandfather had an old cartoon.
11:49We put bumper stickers over the bumper where it was rotted.
11:55It's rusting.
11:56Just bumper stickers over it.
11:57Yeah.
11:57They won't check it.
11:58It's a good idea.
11:59Yeah.
12:00It's a good idea.
12:00If you're looking for a player, if you're looking for examples,
12:08Shea Langelier from the A's had a left oblique strain in that bat earlier this year.
12:13He suffered it on June 5th.
12:15He was back playing on June 30th.
12:18If you're looking for some positive examples, that would put Roman Anthony back at the end of the season,
12:22right before the playoffs, on a good timeline.
12:27So, we'll see.
12:30P-Bats has it at average 26 days.
12:33Start counting the days.
12:37Or they go super cautious and shut him down.
12:41That's what you've got to worry about, I think, more than anything.
12:43The team plays it very cautiously.
12:45I don't want to see that.
12:47They might have backed themselves into that with that contract.
12:49I was just going to say that.
12:52Protect our investment.
12:53Did they, though?
12:54Because, I mean, the truth is, if you bring him back and you rush him back and he re-injures it,
12:59he's got the entire offseason to heal.
13:00Does he not?
13:01Yeah.
13:02Yes.
13:03And he's locked up long term, so you don't have that.
13:05That's right.
13:06Him holding a grudge because you rushed him back.
13:06Right, so you don't have the player worried about being rushed back.
13:09He's already locked in.
13:10So, I think, if anything, the contract could help.
13:12This isn't a tendon tear in your wrist that is eventually going to get scar tissue
13:15and they have to go back in there and do a piece of surgery five times.
13:18No.
13:19No, his age.
13:20His age should help him here.
13:21This is not Christian Gonzalez.
13:23This guy already got his money, so he can't put the money ice pack on him.
13:26Can't do it.
13:27Big injury report today.
13:28Not a thing.
13:29Not in the toolbox.
13:30Not in the toolbox in this situation.
13:32Meanwhile, Garrett Crochet is not exactly the Garrett Crochet he was at the start of the year.
13:39Garrett Crochet, in 2025, has now pitched 178 and two-thirds innings this season.
13:47He entered this season having pitched a total of 219 innings in his entire career.
13:57Are you following, McCone?
14:00I'm there.
14:00You're with me on this map.
14:03Here's the breakdown of his ERA by dates and starts.
14:07Thank you to Neil Collins and the research team for the breakdown of Crochet.
14:10From March 27th through June 1st, his first 13 starts, he had a sub-2 ERA.
14:16He was at 1.98.
14:18From June 7th through July 26th, the next nine starts, he had an ERA of 2.58.
14:26Okay, still pretty damn good.
14:27Just ticking up a little bit.
14:29Since August 5th, over his last eight starts, he has an ERA of 4.38.
14:33Those are just, you know, samples there.
14:40But if you're going to flood us with numbers, and it's such a sport that's based on numbers and analytics and trends,
14:44like, how do you ignore that one?
14:47Like, this is your ace.
14:50You're kind of uncharted territory here.
14:53What do you do?
14:54Just keep rolling it out there.
14:56Keep your fingers crossed.
14:58That's all you can do.
14:59I think you noticed the last two starts, especially he was working on regular rest.
15:04The previous ten starts before that, he had worked on five days of rest each time.
15:08Now, you don't have that weekly day off that you've had.
15:10You're back to it starting this week and through the rest of the season.
15:13So, I think that's where you need to see them start to be a little more careful with Crochet.
15:17But it doesn't surprise me back-to-back starts, him working on regular rest.
15:20He got lucky in that Orioles start.
15:22Trevor Story doesn't bail him out with that ridiculous double play.
15:24That inning, the last two would be pretty rough overall.
15:27And he's given up homers at a pretty high rate at this point in time.
15:30Five straight games.
15:30The velocity's up.
15:31It was actually up 0.3 miles per hour on the four-seamer yesterday.
15:34So, that's not it.
15:35But the command not looking good, that can be another sign of a guy wearing down and being tired.
15:40Because two of those cutters were right down the middle, and then it was the worst sweeper I had ever seen.