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A former Red Sox pitcher pushed back after a sports medicine physician ripped Boston's handling of Roman Anthony's lingering hand injury.

A public dispute erupted over Roman Anthony’s prolonged wrist injury after a sports medicine physician ripped the Red Sox’s medical staff, calling for the entire staff to be fired over the handling of Anthony’s injury. That drew a swift response from former Boston reliever Matt Barnes.

The exchange followed another discouraging injury update on Anthony, whose recovery has stalled more than seven weeks after suffering a wrist injury, reigniting questions about Boston’s medical decisions.

Dr. Jesse Morse Blasts Red Sox Medical Staff

“They need to do a 30 for 30 on HOW MUCH OF AN EPIC FAILURE this situation has been for Red Sox’s Roman Anthony. FIRE EVERYONE MEDICAL,” sports medicine physician Dr. Jesse Morse posted on his social media account.

The Miami-based Morse, who said he has treated Red Sox players and hails from Worcester, Massachusetts, called the Anthony situation, alongside lengthy injuries to ace pitcher Garrett Crochet and infielder Romy Gonzalez, “nothing short of catastrophic.”

Former Red Sox reliever and 2018 World Series champion Barnes, who pitched nine seasons in Boston from 2014 through 2022, was having none of it.

“I can promise you the entire medical team for the Red Sox is nothing short of elite. Save it for somewhere else,” Barnes posted in reply to Morse.

Interim manager Chad Tracy’s update to Boston Globe beat writer Tim Healey sparked the dispute. Anthony “hasn’t made any substantive progress” since the club left on its road trip, Tracy told Healey. The 22-year-old former No. 1 overall MLB prospect has occasionally tried swinging a lighter bat but has not advanced to a structured hitting progression, and there is no timetable for his return, Tracy said.

Anthony went down May 4 against the Detroit Tigers after an awkward check swing caused right wrist discomfort. Initial expectations were optimistic, with a minimum 10-day IL stint projected at the time. A cortisone shot followed, then shifting estimates of three to four weeks, then six to eight weeks, followed by a six-week MRI that showed clean imaging but ongoing pain while swinging.

Anthony later clarified in an interview with a local radio station that his injury was not a wrist sprain but a “partially torn ring finger ligament in (the) ring finger CMC (carpometacarpal)” joint.

“It’s progressing a lot slower than I’d imagined at the beginning of this, but definitely progressing, which is the biggest thing,” Anthony said in mid-June, according to the Boston Herald‘s Mac Cerullo. “It’s just pain, that’s what it was and until it’s not that I’ll be here.”

World Baseball Classic Adds Intrigue to Anthony Injury Frustration

Anthony starred for Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic in March, slashing .318/.423/.591 across six games with two home runs and a team-best seven RBIs, including a go-ahead shot against the Dominican Republic in the semifinals, according to MLB.com‘s Ian Browne.

But Anthony is not the only World Baseball Classic participant to be injured or perform below expectations this season. Detroit ace Tarik Skubal, also a Team USA member, underwent elbow surgery. Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes, who struck out seven in four scoreless innings for Team USA, is on pace for his worst MLB season, posting a 2.86 ERA through roughly 16 starts, well above his record-setting 1.97 ERA over his first two seasons, while also experiencing a noted velocity dip.

Seattle Mariners All-Star catcher Cal Raleigh, who belted 60 home runs in 2025, spent a month on the injured list with an oblique injury and is batting just .164 with eight home runs so far this season. According to ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian, a source inside the Mariners organization believes “the WBC killed him.”

No direct causal link between World Baseball Classic workloads and the subsequent struggles has been established, but the pattern has fueled debate over the effect that playing meaningful games in mid-March with an abbreviated spring training can have on MLB players.

Anthony is slashing .229/.354/.321 with one home run and five RBIs in 30 games. With Boston well below .500 and its rotation taxed, every absent at-bat from the player his teammates described as “almost made for these kinds of moments” makes an already painful summer even harder to take for the Red Sox.