Dustin Pedroia will be on the shelf to start the 2019 season, and how he feels about it probably won’t surprise anyone.
The Boston Red Sox second baseman continues to work his way back from the cartilage-restoration procedure performed on his left knee in 2017. Pedoria entered spring training with the goal of being ready for Opening Day, but Red Sox manager Alex Cora on Monday announced the 35-year-old will begin the year on the injured list — the new name for Major League Baseball’s disabled list.
Pedroia, never one to lack confidence, believes he can contribute on Day 1.
“It is what it is. I didn’t really think about it,” Pedroia said Monday, via WEEI’s Rob Bradford. “I think the whole thing, I don’t think the team was expecting me to come in and look the way I looked. They just want to make sure they do it right. That’s basically it.”
Added Pedroia: “They have had to hold me back. I’m ready for Opening Day. It’s just they’re scared. No one has ever come back from something like this. They want me to make sure I follow the right steps to do that and make sure everyone is 100 percent confident that when I come back, I come back and stay back and not have any issues. … I feel like I’m ready. It’s just they just want to see how my knee responds when I do that, which I understand. We’ll just go from there. It’s only, I think, a week or something, the plan that they set. If it’s being smart for a week and we make sure I respond great to everything thrown at me then it’s a good decision.”
In a perfect world, Pedroia would’ve hit the ground running in spring training and forced his way into the starting lineup March 28 against the Seattle Mariners. But Boston has elected to play the long game with its star second baseman, making sure Pedroia is able to contribute in a meaningful way this year.
