*Photo from CBS Sports*
A longtime Red Sox legend is hanging up the cleats. 2B Dustin Pedroia has announced his retirement from baseball after 15 seasons with the team. Pedroia ended his career proudly, despite having been wrecked by injuries the last few seasons, taking pride in the fact that he never took a play off.
Pedroia talked about what the Red Sox have meant to him in his retirement press conference, saying that "The Boston Red Sox, to me, it means everything. I started my family there; my kids were born in Boston. Every day I woke up and looked to find a way to help our team win a baseball game, and I got to do it in front of the best fans in the best city."
Pedroia's last fully healthy season came in 2016, when he hit .318 with an .825 OPS, hitting 15 homers and driving in 74 runs over 154 games played, finishing as the runner up in the race for the AL Batting Title. In Pedroia's 14 seasons where he has played games, he is a .299 hitter with an .805 OPS, hitting 140 homers and 725 RBI in 1,512 games played.
Red Sox owner John Henry said of Pedroia that "Dustin came to represent the kind of grit, passion and competitive drive that resonates with baseball fans everywhere, and especially with Red Sox fans. He played the game he loves in service to our club, its principles and in pursuit of championships. Most of all, we are forever grateful to him for what he brought to our club and to our region as an important role model showing all of us how much one can accomplish with determination and hard work."
Ever since that 2016 season, Pedroia's career has been ravaged by injuries. He played 105 games in 2017 for the Red Sox before Manny Machado spiked Pedroia's ankle with his cleat while sliding into second base as Pedroia was attempting to turn a double play. He missed the rest of that season and he was never able to recover. He played just 3 games in 2018 before landing on the IL with an ankle injury that held him out for the rest of the season. In 2019, he was only able to play 6 games before his ankle kept him out for the season. He didn't even play at all in 2020 due to his ankle injury.
Pedroia detailed his attempt to play in 2020, saying that Last January, going into 2020, I was still working out and still trying to get ready to come back and play. I woke up one morning and my knee was huge. I went and saw the doctors, and everything looked like an explosion went off in there. I grinded every day just to be able to play with my kids and to live a normal life."
Pedroia also had knee replacement surgery in December, and he said that because of it "I can't run anymore, which is fine. I don't need to run. I'm proud of the way that the trainers helped me, doctors, everybody. But it wasn't physically possible for me to continue to play baseball with a partial knee replacement. Once I got that done, I knew. The team has been great at leading me in the right direction on things to do and how to get better. I'm only 37 years old. I've got a long way to go."
Pedroia also said that he had the surgery knowing full well he wouldn't be able to play again. He said he had the surgery because he wanted to have a good quality of life, which was more important to him than trying to play baseball recently.
Pedroia said that "I'm most proud of the environment and culture we all helped build. The expectations, I know that the fan base demands a lot. But as a player, you want to hold each other accountable that every year. Your goal is to win the World Series. There wasn't a single season that I showed up to Fort Myers that I didn't think our team could win the World Series."
Pedroia is hanging up his cleats with quite a playing career as a Boston Red Sox. He has played the second most games at second base in franchise history, behind only Bobby Doerr. His 11 straight opening day starts at second base are the second longest by a Red Sox at any position, behind only Carl Yastrzemski's 12 straight opening day starts in left field.
He also has some impressive accolades and trophies as well. Besides winning the world series in 2007 and 2013, Pedroia is also a 4 time all star, 4 time gold glove winner, the 2007 AL Rookie of the year, the 2008 AL MVP, the 2013 MLBPA Heart and Hustle award, and a 2008 Silver Slugger winner.
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