Dustin Pedroia was a great player for the Boston Red Sox. He was a Most Valuable Player in the American League, Gold Glove winner, and Silver Slugger winner. He was a recognized leader in every way.
In 2016, the Red Sox decided to extend his contract for 6 years and $85 million. He was 33 years old at the time. The first two years were fine but there were signs of physical problems. He did have knee problems which required surgery at the end of 2016. He was disabled with a wrist sprain in 2017 and finally ended his season with surgery on his left knee. He only played in 105 games in 2017.
Little did anyone know, but they had seen the last of Dustin Pedroia’s great seasons. In 2018, he played in 3 games and he played in 6 games in 2019. In those two seasons he missed 315 of the Red Sox 324 regular season games. He also missed the whole 2018 Red Sox World Series’ run.
He missed the whole 2020 season. In fact, he was never able to play again. For $85 million, the Red Sox saw Pedroia play only 1 full season out of the 6. After year 2, he was only able to appear in 9 games. While it is unfortunate that such a great player had injuries end his career. From the view of the Red Sox, their 6 year $85 million investment only yielded one full season of play.
