Red Sox and Roman Anthony Agree to new contract and the impact on his cards
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Multiple outlets, including MLB.com and ESPN's Jeff Passan, have reported that young Boston Red Sox star Roman Anthony is close to signing an 8-year, $130 million contract, which would cover his first six years of team control plus a little extra.
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Roman Anthony's deal with the Red Sox will start in 2026 and includes significant escalators that could take the maximum value of the deal to $230 million. Depending on where he finishes in AL Rookie of the Year voting, it would buy out three or four years of free agency.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 6, 2025
The young outfielder, who was drafted in 2022, just turned 21 in May. He only has 159 at-bats but he has shown the Red Sox enough to sign him to the contract. He's hitting .283 with two home runs and 19 RBI. The Red Sox have gone 32-16 since Anthony debuted on June 9th.
As a 2022 draftee, Anthony's Bowman 1st Chrome Autograph came out in the 2023 Bowman product. According to Card Ladder's tracking, the value has fluctuated, but has never dropped below the first recorded sale of $103.50 on June 13th, 2023.
The last recorded sale, was on August 2nd, 2025 went for $850, which happens to be the highest sale to date for this card. The total PSA pop count on this card is 326, with 184 of them coming in at a GEM MT 10.
Since he debuted in early June, it could be speculated that his flagship rookie card could come in 2025 Topps Update Series, but Topps has been known to hold out rookies longer than expected and push them to the next season.
Another big question is when to expect his Rookie Debut Patch 1/1. While it seems early enough, June 9th would be past the cutoff for the 2025 product, according to what Beckett.com said about the 2024 product. According to the site, players who made their debut between June 1, 2023 and May 24, 2024 had their Rookie Debut 1/1 Patch Autograph in the 2024 Chrome Update product. But this timeline, Anthony's patch would be in 2026 Topps Chrome Update.
After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 2008, Cole worked as an advertising copywriter until shifting to print journalism a few years later. Managing three weekly newspapers in the Dakotas, Cole won numerous awards from the North Dakota Newspaper Association including Best of the Dakotas and, their top award, General Excellence. He returned to collecting in 2021 and has since combined his passion for writing with his love of cards. Cole also writes for the Sports Cards Nonsense newsletter and has made guest appearances on multiple sports card collecting podcasts including Sports Cards Nonsense, and the Eephus Baseball Cards Podcast. IG: coleryan411 X: @colebenz