Gammons On Toucher & Rich: Pedroia A Player 'Every Manager Would Die For'
Reports surfaced Tuesday that second baseman Dustin Pedroia and the Boston Red Sox agreed to a seven-year contract extension worth around $100 million. The deal will become official once Pedroia passes a physical.
Why do this deal now? Is the money on point in terms of his performance and should the Red Sox be concerned about how old he'll be at the end of this contract? Peter Gammons said not to worry about any of that.
"This is entirely his doing, he drove it. It's way under market, if he waits until Cano signs he's going to get a lot more. He just didn't want to wait," Gammons told 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Wednesday. "It comes out to an average of $14 million a year for a guy that's clearly the leader of the team, and if you take the statistical whatever, he's a top 20 player in baseball."
"But it goes way beyond just his statistics. If you go out there everyday as I do at 3:15 in the afternoon, just watching how he takes all the infielders and makes them take infield together -- there's real value in that," said Gammons. "He's a player I know every manager would die for."
Pedroia, who will turn 30 years old in August, is under contract through the 2014 season. The agreed-upon extension will begin in the 2015 season and will run through 2021, when he'll be 38 years old.
