Red Sox 'Hopeful' Dustin Pedroia Will Be Able To Play To Start 2019 Season
BOSTON (CBS) -- Though 2018 was a glorious year for the Boston Red Sox, it ended up being a lost season for Dustin Pedroia.
The longest-tenured member of the team was limited to just three games, as he wasn't able to rebound from offseason knee surgery quite the way he had hoped. But after that disappointing setback, the team is hoping that Pedroia will be able to return to the lineup in 2019.
Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said that Pedroia will not require additional surgeries, and the plan is for the second baseman to be ready and healthy for the start of the 2019 season.
"We're hopeful that Dustin will be fine," Dombrowski said.
Dombrowski detailed the plan for Pedroia going forward.
"He is not going to have surgery. He has continued rehab and therapy, and that's what he is going to continue to do," Dombrowski said. "He will do that through about the middle of December, and start then some additional -- then get back into exercise and more physical activities other than the therapy at that point. And then sometime in January, beginning or middle of January, he'll start running at that point. So we're hopeful he'll be ready for the season."
Pedroia, 35, underwent a cartilage restoration procedure after the 2017 season. Given the limited instances of players undergoing such a procedure, his timetable for a return was uncertain. He eventually worked his way into the lineup in late May, but he managed to play just three games before going back on the disabled list, where he'd remain for the rest of the season.
Pedroia had been coming off a 2017 season during which he batted .293 with a .760 OPS. The 2007 Rookie of the Year and 2008 American League MVP has played in more than 1,500 career games, all with the Red Sox, and he helped the team to World Series titles in 2007 and 2013.
