McAdam: Dustin Pedroia readying for Grapefruit League debut

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Cranking homers to center field under the watchful eye of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, Dustin Pedroia took a step closer Monday to returning to game action, predicting that he would take part in a spring training game before the week is out.

The previous day, Alex Cora had termed Monday an important day in Pedroia's bid to get back on the field, a test of his readiness.

"I feel great,'' Pedroia announced to a small army of reporters, "but I didn't know it was a milestone day. It was? Oh. Honestly, I didn't even know he said that. It was another day for me. I feel good. I feel like I'm just preparing for another season. So far, so good.''

Of course, it's not just "another season'' for Pedroia, who, after undergoing major reconstructive surgery on his left knee in November of 2017, managed to play in just three games last year. He returned in late May, played three games in the span of four days and was soon placed back on the DL.

In retrospect, he now admits, he ignored some warning signs as merely the usual soreness for a player returning after a long layoff and his return proved too ambitious.

Any hope that he might return for the final month and the postseason were dashed in August when he underwent arthroscopic surgery. When the Red Sox went all the way to the World Series, Pedroia was in uniform, but served only as a resource, providing moral support.

He's not been fully healthy in years and has undergone three knee surgeries in the last three years. At 35, you can almost visualize the sand running through the hourglass of Pedroia's career.

There are contingency plans in place, though none of them great. Eduardo Nunez, limited by his own knee issues, was ill-suited for second base, and Brock Holt, though highly versatile and valuable, is better as an occasional contributor off the bench rather than an everyday lineup presence. Tzu-Wei Lin is an above-average defender, but hasn't hit much at Triple-A, much less at the major league level.

In a perfect world, the Red Sox will get 125 or so games from Pedroia this season. Whether that's realistic or not is unknown.

But Pedroia has proclaimed himself ready for the challenge. Across the state, where the Red Sox were playing the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie Monday, Cora seemed to indicate that Pedroia might make his spring debut Friday in Sarasota.

"I feel normal,'' Pedroia said. "I don't want to get too excited. I'm just sticking to the plan and trying to get better every day. Today was a great day, but I've got to have another one tomorrow.''

Pedroia feels comfortable on the field again, with few limitations. There are no warning signs or aspects of his game that don't yet feel right. The training staff is harnessing him some to make sure that he doesn't try to do too much, too soon and negate all the work that's already been done.

Setbacks are costly and mentally deflating. Better to clear every hurdle slowly than trip up and have to begin the journey again.

"I can do everything,'' Pedroia claimed. "But they don't want me to do everything, all the time, right away. I'm slowing building up.''

There are daily drills, a schedule to which he adheres. There's batting practice, taking grounders in the infield, baserunning and others in the morning, followed by treatment, massage and ice.

For now, he gets small satisfaction from simple pleasures. He maintained that his batting practice homer Monday, which cleared everything in the deepest part of the ballpark, was his first ever in BP to go out to center and eagerly inquired whether any reporters had video of the shot.

That was enough work for the day. There were drills to do tomorrow and the prospect of a game, seemingly no later than Friday.

"I have to keep going, keep progressing,'' Pedroia said. "I've come a long way, so I'm excited.