Tomase: Pedroia’s perspective on Machado’s slide that changed his career originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Two words that Dustin Pedroia never uttered during his retirement over the phone with Zoom reporters: Manny Machado.
The $ 300 million San Diego man was merely an All-Star field player with the Baltimore Orioles when he crashed at Pedroia in April 2017, triggering a series of illnesses that led to the end of Pedroia’s All-Star career and his farewell tearful on Monday.
Given that Pedroia just underwent a partial knee replacement in December that ensures he will never run again, and given that his career ended at an age (37) when he could be polishing his Hall of Fame credentials, it’s reasonable to ask – is he at peace with the piece that changed his life?
Tomase: Dustin Pedroia was a unique treasure in Boston
“I’m not upset about anything anymore,” said Pedroia. “That play could have happened in my debut year. When you play second base and play second like me, you wait until the last possible second to catch the ball, because you watched: if there is a small chance of a double play , there is a guy on planet Earth who could transform you. And you are talking to him. “
Leaving aside Pedroia’s characteristic bravado, there is no doubt that a different slide at that moment would have left Pedroia better equipped to continue his career at All-Star. But with Pedroia’s leg planted awkwardly in the bag, Machado’s spine on the back of his knee left him with damage that could change his life.
One thing he did not do was ruin his 2017 season. Despite being in constant pain and needing immediate surgery out of season, Pedroia eliminated 105 matches and scored 0.293.
“Your mind takes over,” he said. “It was one of the worst pains. Day after day, it was difficult. I played in 2013, tore my UCL on my thumb on Opening Day and played all year that year, and it was like a massage compared to this one. I don’t know how I did it. I just know that our coaches, our doctors, my teammates are very powerful people who can pressure you to do something, and I needed to be there to help them This is how I see it: 50 percent of me can find a way to help us win a game.
“It’s funny, I remember when I did the first MRI after that piece, a doctor said, ‘Hey, man, you could ruin not only your career, but the rest of your life with this injury. You pulled out all the cartilage from his medial compartment in his femur and tibia, his boot has stuck and it’s a bad deal.
“And I said, ‘Well, I can play.’ And he said, “Yes, you can try. It will be over. When it is over, you will know.” So, I just remember everyone saying, ‘Hey, we need you.’ It was a no-brainer. If I had to do it all over again, it wouldn’t even be a question. Of course I would. “
Pedroia’s former teammates react to the retirement of the Red Sox legend
The example that Pedroia set that year for a young squad that included Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi carried on to 2018, when he appeared in just three games, but was still proud to see the Red Sox breaking up for the third season of the World Series of his career.
Now it’s over? Pedroia moves on and Machado is not worth mentioning by name.
“It happened,” said Pedroia. “Unfortunately, I just got caught in the wrong position and that was it. But I think I am at peace with everything knowing that I did my best and the training team and doctors did everything we could to try to continue to play baseball.
“And we made it back. I played nine games, when 90 percent of the doctors said there was no chance of you playing. I’m proud of it. The way it ended, it ended like that, and that’s okay. I just hope I did enough during the time that I had to play to impact everyone. This is the only thing that interests me. “
Originally published