Dustin Pedroia, better known as Pedey or Laser Show to Red Sox Nation, is an icon in New England; he has won Rookie of the Year, an MVP, and two World Series rings for the Sox since his debut in 2006. As someone who has lived in Massachusetts their entire life and lives and dies with the Red Sox, I know first-hand what Dustin Pedroia has meant to the Red Sox. That is why, as I am typing, I am straining to not just hit delete and start from scratch. The Red Sox and new GM Dave Dombrowski should kick the tires on trading Dustin Pedroia.
The Possibility of Trading Dustin Pedroia
The Red Sox are sitting at 68-75 for the 2015 season and of those 143 games, Pedroia has played in just 79 due to a nagging hamstring injury. Pedroia was placed on the DL for a second time this season on July 25 and missed the Red Sox’ next 40 games. He was activated off the DL on September 8. In those 40 games, without arguably their best player, the Red Sox played their best baseball of the season, going 22-18. Although much of that is thanks to improved performances from their starting pitchers, especially Joe Kelly, it is still somewhat alarming that the Red Sox would play better without Pedroia.
Pedroia has had durability issues as he’s aged; he only played in 135 games last season after playing in at least 140 in the prior three seasons. Not only has Pedroia missed significant game time the last two seasons, his numbers have suffered as well. His slugging percentage has dropped the previous four seasons, excluding 2015 (.474-.449-.415-.376). His OPS has also dropped in the three prior seasons (.797-.787-.712). To be fair, Pedroia bounced back this season, but all his numbers were undone when he grabbed for his hamstring in July.
Further complicating matters has been the performance of Mookie Betts. One of the Red Sox best players all season long, Betts is having a great year playing out of position in centerfield. While he has turned himself into a good outfielder, Betts should be playing second base, his natural position. Betts moving to second base would not only potentially benefit him and give the Red Sox a middle infield of Betts and Xander Bogaerts for the next 10 seasons, but the move would also open the centerfield job for Jackie Bradley Jr. Bradley has not only hit .281 this season, finally proving he can hit at the major league level, he is also arguably the best defensive outfielder in all of baseball.
Despite a decline in numbers and some injury issues, teams will jump at the chance to acquire Pedroia if he is put on the trading block. The Sox might have to eat some of his $85 million dollar contract, but if a team does bite and trade for Pedroia they would have him under team control until 2021. While trading Pedey might be hard, offloading the Laser Show to acquire quality pitching and move Mookie Betts back to second and JBJ to centerfield might benefit the Red Sox more than holding onto their aging star.
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