Pedey has 2nd thoughts
Says now he would not have surgery
FORT MYERS — There’s no way Dustin Pedroia would choose to go through this again.
The invasive knee surgery he had in October 2017 required parts from a cadaver’s knee to be inserted into his, followed by a grueling 12-18-month recovery period in which nobody was quite certain how a baseball player might respond.
Now in spring training as he prepares to extend his career into a 14th season, Pedroia said yesterday that if he had to go back and do it again, his choices would be different.
“No, I wouldn’t have done it,” he said. “I don’t regret doing it, but looking back and knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it.”
What were his other options?
“Change rehab styles, treatment styles, things like that,” he said. “It’s a complicated surgery. The cartilage in my knee is great now but the graft is the thing. You’re putting somebody else’s bone in your body. To get that to incorporate fully, there’s so many things that — and going into it I didn’t know all that stuff. I thought they were like, ‘You tore this, we can fix it.’ I’m like, ‘Oh that sounds great.’ But I didn’t know. I didn’t go to medical school, which I probably could have, but I didn’t know all that stuff at the time.”
Pedroia will give it a second go this spring, with an extra year of rest in between comeback attempts. He played in just three games last year, making his debut in late May only to feel his knee hurt even worse when pushing himself on the field.
“I think the difference was last year it was like everybody wanted me to come back better than I was before instead of just me coming back, you know what I mean?” he said. “I might have pushed it too hard or done too much, but as far as following directions, yeah, I followed every step. I think some of the directions were, timing-wise, a little off.”
There lies the problem with the surgery. Pedroia was the first position player in baseball to try it. The only player to have it was Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright, who said earlier this week that his knee would never be 100 percent again.
Pedroia was asked the same question.
“Do I get my knee 100 percent? Well, (expletive), it ain’t even my knee,” he said. “It’s somebody else’s bro. My right knee is 100 percent though.”
At age 35 and on what could be his final life as a professional, Pedroia acknowledged that if he has any chance at success, he needs to change his playing style.
The second baseman known for never taking a play off said he might finally take some plays off.
“You just have to be smart about it,” he said. “Think about what you’re going to do before you do it. Whether that’s in the weight room or your pregame stuff or even game stuff. If we’re up by 10 runs and a guy hits a ball that I don’t know if I can make the play, I’m sure our pitcher will understand if I don’t dive for it and it goes through.
“I’ve never done that before. I don’t look at the scoreboard until like the eighth inning, but you know, I just have to get used to it. Because I mean, if I dive and bang my knee in a certain way and can’t walk, probably don’t want to do that.”
Pedroia will participate in spring training drills and is likely to push himself in game action. He has to prove he can be relied on for a 25man roster spot. Manager Alex Cora, who famously suggested the Red Sox cut veteran Hanley Ramirez midseason last year, made it clear Pedroia has to “show that he can play” in spring training.
“We want him on the field,” Cora said yesterday. “We know how good he is, what he brings defensively and offensively, it makes us better. Having Pedey around, we have more options. It’s very similar to what we had in LA in the National League park with the bench. It’s a very dangerous team. We’ll take it day by day.”
Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski suggested the target for Pedroia was around 120 games. After two years of rehab, Pedroia doesn’t want to make any predictions.
“This offseason it wasn’t that bad, it was more rest,” he said. “The human body can only take so much. So you’ve got to let it heal. When I started going again it was tough but it wasn’t like the year before. Maybe that’s why I feel so good now. I healed up, got some rest, my body’s recovered and I’m excited.”
If Pedroia can prove he’s healthy, he’ll hit leadoff on Opening Day, a promise Cora made to him in the offseason.
“I appreciate him doing that,” Pedroia said. “He better not give me too many days hitting leadoff, I might stay there. But I appreciate that. These guys have seen how hard I’ve worked and what I’m trying to get back from. To give me that opportunity would be cool.”