Rehabbing Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia seems to be in good spirits after his latest knee procedure. As Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports, the veteran reports that “things are going really good compared to where I was before the surgery.”
It’s only two weeks out, but that seems generally to be a promising development for a player whose future remains quite uncertain. As Bradford notes, it’s still not clear just how Pedroia will proceed with rehab work — if he does so at all — after several prior attempts at a return have been stymied.
Pedroia, who recently turned 36, is owed $25MM over the next two seasons. While the Boston organization would no doubt welcome a contribution from the long-time star, it’s hard to imagine the club will rely upon a return as it compiles a plan for the offseason.
Since undergoing season-ending surgery in 2017, Pedroia has appeared in just nine MLB contests. But he was still in good form prior to the onset of the physical ailments. From 2015 through 2017, he compiled a .304/.369/.430 batting line in 1,586 plate appearances.
Regardless of how Pedroia proceeds, it’ll be interesting to see how the Red Sox handle the second base position this winter. Brock Holt and Michael Chavis have spent much of the time there in 2019, but the former is a free agent and the latter is arguably better-suited to playing first base.
At this point, move on. Give him a token final season send off – a farewell tour for a good career but look to free agency to solidify the position.
Yeah, I don’t think they are going to plan on his health holding up
With their budget where it’s at, money should be spent on pitching.
Jonathan Schoop would be my choice as a free agent 2nd basemen. Close friend
of Xander Bogerts with some pop in his bat. Has 20 homers so far this year.
We all know where this is heading. Dustin retires, $25M comes off the books related to the luxury tax and he assumes some role in the Front Office. Probably gets final $25M over multiple yrs, but stays involved in the organization.
Yap – just retire
Get a settlement.
Say 1m over the next 20 years and be instructor in ST
$25 M over the next two years is a lot more valuable than the same amount spread over 25 years. He has no financial motivation to make a deal like this. If he thinks he can play, he’s not going anywhere
Agree with you. But he can’t play. Takes roster spot.
I think the CBA has provisions for getting around salaries like that.
Pedroia counts towards the luxury tax for the next two seasons unless someone can give him a really good reason how it helps him to voluntarily retire.
Yes, the CBA has strictly limited what can be paid via “personal services contracts” shortly after the Angels and Albert Pujols agreed to include such a clause in his free agent contract.
THank you. He’s going to collect his cash. Dombrowski or his replacement will have to learn to build a team of 25 players on $200 million or so. It shouldn’t be too challenging. It will be, but it shouldn’t be.
As a Pirates fan, thanks. I blew coffee through my nose with your reply
He’s due 13 mil next year and 12 the following year.
If he retires due to a medical problem then he gets the money and red sox and make an insurance claim (assuming they took out a policy on his contract which they likely did).
I find it very unlikely that commentors who call for him to retire and leave the money on the table would do the same thing if faced with an injury. He is owed almost 20% of what will be his lifetime salary. That is a huge percentage to give up just because
He’s not leaving anything on the table nor should he. Would love for his knee to heal so he can live a healthy life. I’ve had three knee surgeries including two done by a top sports doctor and once they cut you, arthritis can become a huge issue. He deserves good health.
Utilizing Chavis as a 2B would probably be more valuable. Otherwise, he’d be a right/right 1B at only 5’10”, at a position where height and wingspan are major defensive assets. Althoigh physical profiles don’t always indicate success or struggle, that’s a historically poor profile for a 1B. At 2B, I would assume that his offensive production would be more valuable.
Makes sense to me
Left handed 1B have an advantage but, being right handed isn’t a handicap. Earlier in his career, Albert Pujols was one of the greatest defensive 1B whereas Vic Power was one of the greatest and most flamboyant defensive 1B ever to wear a uniform.
There have been many successful conversions to 1B Yuli Gurriel spent 15 years as a 3B; Rod Carew and Pete Rose, became excellent non boiler plate 1B.
Does size matter? Joe Judge and Stuffy McInnis were notable short 1B.
Perhaps HOU and LAD are setting a trend by using middle IFs at every position on the IF.. So what if Dustin Pedroia becomes the shortest 1B ever. He’ll make a good one.
Forgetting Bagwell was a 5’11” R/R converted 3B that became one of the best fielding 1B ever but I agree would rather go with the prototype.
Yaz also was pretty good at first. He batted lefty but threw righty.
Chavis at 2nd sounds like a defensive nightmare.
David Wright all over again. Dustin take a page from Andrew Luck and hang it up
Be a coach, be a manger some day. Be there for your team.
Not sure he’s at the Wright stage yet but fair point
Speaking of Wright, is he also done?
Yes
It will probably end up exactly like Wright or Prince Fielder. Pedroia could spend the rest of his career on the 60 Day IL collecting paychecks…
Dustin Pedroia is done, he hasn’t been his old self since 2016. The Red Sox should try and pick up a solid second baseman in a trade for a prospect or two and Jay Groome who I believe is not going to be a good fit for Boston.
He was pretty good in 2017
They dont have much in the farm to give up, and it certainly wouldn’t be for a 2b, they have Chavis. Have you seen their pitching staff??
Exactly but I’m not sold on Chavis who strikes out too much. Brock Holt is more valuable playing a little everywhere but the position needs to be filled cheaply with money for the mound.
This GM thinks Groome isn’t a good fit for the Sox based on all the games he has pitched for the organization.
Ceasar Hernandez will be readily available from Philly…..
if only we traded hin earlier, then perhaps we could have gotten a substantial return. this all said, id hope they look for a pitcher if they trade him, and Boston doesn’t really have too much starting depth they arent hoping to use themselves. however, package Cesar and one of Pivetta, VV, Eflin, or Eickhoff and perhaps something can be worked out. Even if there isnt a fit, im curious about Sam Travis’s availability.
Pedroia’s extension never felt like it was about those particular seasons or a splashy move, but as a thank you for everything he’d done prior on such team friendly deals. Obviously it was a mistake. Lots are mistakes, though. Sometimes I wonder what the percentage is of these contracts that work out?
The Mets with David Wright’s early retirement after barely playing the last couple seasons prior, with years left on the deal; Yankees have been eating Ellsbury’s contract for literal years now and recouped most via insurance policies; Prince Fielder was forced into early retirement with a half decade and hundreds of millions left on his contract; Jeter wanted 10 years, got 3, was done after the 1st. Some folks are saying the Red Sox may end up effectively eating or riding out Chris Sales’ deal. David Prices’ deal may not pan out, ultimately. The Red Sox paid Panda to go away and paid Carl Crawford to go away.
To my recollection the number of the guys to retire/wind down with strong numbers and mostly justifiable salaries is pretty limited. Off the top of my head I’d name David Ortiz, Torii Hunter, Barry Bonds…all the large contracts that mostly worked out were the 1-2 year deals after 4-5 year deals played out and the guys took pay cuts or came back on shorter deals- got paid a ton, but got paid as a member of the team and not a record breaking contract, many of which become torturous after just 1 season. If you look at the real record breakers in today’s era you see names of guys like Pujols (the contract looked bad within the first season), Miguel Cabrera (he essentially can’t play anymore, hasn’t been a functional starter level player in 3 seasons, has 4 years/$124M left and they’ve basically said he’s at a physical point of probably needing to retire) and we constantly see rumblings about Pujols’ and the Angels possibly quietly restructuring his deal so he can bow out early….Prince Fielder retired with 3 years and $96M or so remaining on his deal. A-Rod was paid to go away and his first extension was its own headache/albatross despite his individualistic talents.
I’m wondering if baseball and its fans can honestly say any of these mega-contracts work out? Like, I’ve read about how Kershaw and Greinke’s performances have been worth their paychecks and they aren’t exactly operating in obscurity on irrelevant clubs, but Greinke definitely was on the D’backs and Kershaw doesn’t always feel like the Dodgers’ most critical/franchise player that he kinda is and should be.
Or it’s just about eyeballs, t-shirts and ad revenue so their actual career arcs don’t matter, just the click throughs and AdWords and Coordinated Sponsorship on top of the ticket sales, stadium priced food and broadcasting rights deals- the players are paid accordingly based on how much content they generate for the team, basically?
Sorry for the long comment. Pedroia’s contract with the Red Sox, his ultimate career trajectory and how it reflects on baseball fascinates me.
“Jeter wanted 10 years, got 3, was done after the 1st” No, no, that’s not the way anything went down.
Jeter never wanted 10 years toward the end of his career, if that’s what you’re insinuating. Plus in what way was Jeter done after the first year of any of his contracts? You just can’t throw things out there like this…
It wasn’t a mistake. The guy sustained a terrible injury.
Fire Cora, make Pedroia the manager. 5-years at $25 mil.
I hear Cano is available to play second.
Gag me….Cano
Cano to me is a prime example of baseball’s issue bridging the gap between those initial team friendly contracts and the inevitable albatross’ when a player is done with hometown discounts or wants more years for a lower AAV but it all kinda works out the same in the end. Ya gotta wonder how we’d look at some of these deals if instead of 4, 5, 6, 7 years and $15M to $25M per season, etc. they took 3-4 year deals at $20-30M instead. Like instead of a 4 year/$28M deal with those very team friendly options, I wonder what if that Yankees had signed Cano to a 12 year/$182M deal (same 6 yrs/$57M original extension plus 6 yrs/$125M) He’d have been off the books after this year and if he’d had stayed on the Yankees he would’ve had way more protection in the batting order and his numbers would probably have been better overall, PED issues notwithstanding.
I kinda love what the Dodgers have been doing with their player extensions/contracts- high AAV low year totals or low AAV high year totals. Seems like the best of both considerations. Justin Turner, Clayton Kershaw, Manny Ramirez now classic 2 yr/$45M extension, etc.
I wondered about Aaron Hicks’ 7 years/$70M extension, thinking he got too many years and too low an AAV but I get it now, like it should’ve been 5 years/$60M ($8M last arb. season, $13MM AAV from 2020-23) but now that $10M AAV over 7 years looks brilliants- under pay him when he performs, over pay him when he’s struggling or has extended stays on the IL and it works out to a very fair deal for both the Yankees and Hicks. Job Security/Player Consistency/A Decent Paycheck for your profession/not an albatross no matter what happens/Hicks probably didn’t lose out on any money or only lost out on $5-10M if he played beyond the first five years of shorter term higher AAV deal.
The Rangers will give you Odor for a bag of game used baseballs.
Can David Price also be in the bag?
It’s clear he’s not capable of starting anymore. Tough spot for Boston’s front office to be in when a player who can’t play anymore is trying to hang on and collect a paycheck.
All Pedroia is doing at this point is tarnishing his legacy.
Oh he’s doing more than that. He’s making millions.
The paycheck became Pedroia’s to collect when the Red Sox and Pedroia agreed to that contract.
The suggestion that Pedroia following through on his rehab and trying to get back into playing shape is “tarnishing his reputation” sounds to me like something that someone with very little patience or fortitude and a propensity for quitting would write.
Exactly. The Red Sox agreed to pay this to Pedroia. And his injury came on the field of play. It’s not like he was parasailing or cliff diving. He was covering second.
Let him collect his paycheck and hire a GM who can build a decent team for a a shoestring budget of $213 million.
How’s he tarnishing his legacy? He hasn’t been on the field
This is a “tough spot” for the front office? The numbers suggest otherwise. The data below are from http://www.sportrac.com.
Red Sox total allocations (i.e., payments that count toward the luxury tax)
2019 – > $227 million (mlb rank: first)
2018 – > $227 million (mlb rank: first)
2017 – > $209 million (mlb rank: second)
2016 – > $207 million (mlb rank: third)
These numbers indicate that the Red Sox front office has little history of “tough spots” when it comes to player compensation. In this specific case, Pedroia’s luxury tax salary is $13.75 for each of the next two years. Relative to the 2018 and 2019 total allocations – values that seem unlikely to change significantly going ahead (hello, Mr. Betts) – that represents 6% of the total. Mildly inconvenient for the front office, perhaps, but not tough, and that’s without considering possible recoveries via insurance. Indeed, assuming the Red Sox have a business revenue of > $516 million (2018 value from http://www.statista.com), Pedroia’s salaries begin to approach the level of accounting rounding errors.
I wish my bank account had to deal with such a tough spot!
The insurance money an organization recoups is only good of course for their bottom line.
Of course…and that “revenue” from an insurance policy would significantly lessen the blow associated with any luxury tax payments. But as I wrote above, I wasn’t considering insurance.
Insurance brings money back but I don’t believe the recovery offsets the threshold.
I do hope Brockstar signs bk with Boston.
That is a guarantee. He is not that valued outside of Boston
Just rub a lil’ tobacco on it and he should be ready to go.
He’s done
The rat has finally be exterminated
That “rat” is a former Roy and MVP. That man gave everything he had on the field. He had all 5 tools. You sir, are not a smart man.
I’d really like for them to find a way to “buy out” his contact. In exchange for him officially retiring, give him $30m to be a minor league coach or major league consultant or something. That gets his salary off the payroll for luxury tax purposes.
CBA has pretty much eliminated any way to skirt luxury cap calculations by re-defining what would obviously be player contract proceeds into anything like a $25MM minor-league coaching or personal services contract.
I believe if a player retires, the team doesn’t owe them the remainder of their salary and it doesn’t count toward the luxury tax. After he retires, they could give him a $25m contract to be a homebody, with the title “professional game watcher and Cub Scout leader,” and it wouldn’t count towards the tax.
Or maybe that’s not allowed under the CBA. But it should be.
Damn i thought he retired already. He will end up like David Wright, we know he is pretty much done but he will have 1 or 2 more games to send him off properly.
Bye bye