Dustin Pedroia injury update and look to future

(Photo: Entercom Radio, LLC)
Eric D. Schabell
Contributing Writer

Red Sox long time second baseman Dustin Pedroia spoke Monday with Rob Bradford of WEEI.com sharing an update on his knee procedure.

Back on Aug 7, Alex Speier reported on the details of a "joint preservation procedure" for Pedroia's left knee.

It was a "relatively new" surgery called "subchondroplasty" used for repairing multiple hairline fractures that had formed and strengthening the bones in Pedroia's knee. There were also several bone spurs removed.



His first public comments since June show an upbeat player.

"Had a check-up with the doctor this morning and I’ll see the guys the next two days and then I’ll be in Vail until Monday rehabbing,” Pedroia said. “The surgery went really great. I’m still on crutches for two more weeks but things are going really good compared to where I was before the surgery.”

Back in Feb, when asked if he could ever get his knee back to 100 percent, Pedroia answered, "Could I get my knee to 100 percent? Well [shoot], it ain’t even my knee, man, it’s somebody else’s, bro."

Let's take a look at the possibility that Pedroia never returns to second base and that this procedure is about a normal (walking) life after baseball.

Life beyond

Pedroia, 36 years old, is owed $25MM over the next two seasons that remain from his eight-year, $110MM contract. This contract was a team friendly extension, proven that same year when Robinson Cano signed a free-agent deal to play second base for the Mariners at 10 years and a little over $228MM.

It would seem that the Red Sox should take action this winter as the 2019 solutions are either free-agents (Brock Holt), insufficient (Chris Owings batting .127), and better suited for first base (Michael Chavis).

No matter the direction they take, at $25MM per year it would be of interest to include Pedroia as a veteran presence in the organization for the next few years. He's proven capable at helping with continued development of newly promoted Triple-A talents and could continue to be of use in that role while the Red Sox fill second base. Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts have benefited from Pedroia's experience and actions (as Alex Speier's new book showed that he jumped in to help Bogaerts on his first trip with the Red Sox on his call up).

While it might not be possible for Pedroia to return to his beloved second base, he has two years on his contract and a baseball lifetime in the Red Sox organization to pass on to the next generation.

Post a comment or via twitter @erics_redsox with your thoughts.

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