It has gone as planned. So much so, it is a bit eerie.
When the Red Sox sent out their press release to announce that Dustin Pedroia underwent cartilage restoration surgery, it was stated that his return would be out "approximately seven months" according to the club. It seemed a bit bizarre considering that no professional athlete had returned in such an abbreviated timetable after experiencing such a procedure. But here we are. Seven months to the day and Pedroia is making his 2018 debut.
"Have you ever played a Major League Baseball season with a blown out knee? If you did you would follow the steps to fix it," said Pedroia when asked about sticking to the day-by-day process during his rehabilitation. "I already did the alternative. I don't want to do it again."
For the first time since 2016, Pedroia has a functioning knee. That will be something new.
That, however, won't be his biggest change.
Pedroia is clearly confident he will be able to play without problems and play well. He is also sure that he will be able to do this while carrying a completely different attitude and mindset, one which he hadn't previously mastered in his 34 years on this planet.
"I've dealt with a lot. I'm going to enjoy playing," Pedroia said. "I'm just going to enjoy playing baseball more than I did. That's it."
So, when was the last time he felt the need to take this step back for a greater sense of appreciation.
"Never," he added.
"I've never enjoyed it like I should have," Pedroia explained. "When we won the World Series your first thought is that we have to do it again. It's not going to be like that again."
Having baseball taken away from him has clearly changed the second baseman. For the first time in his life, there was not Opening Day, or opportunity to exist on a roster like everyone else on his team. Still, to think that in all his baseball-playing years the act of truly appreciating what was going on around him is somewhat mind-blowing. There was Rookie of the Year. MVP. Two World Series championships. A total of 1,554 major league games. Almost $100 million in career earnings.
Nope. None of it changed him like this knee thing did.
"I can see him saying it and I can relate to it," said former Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, one of Pedroia's best friends in the game. "I signed a four-year deal with the Marlins, going in my first year of that deal I was thinking that I would hate to have people think that I wasn't worth the money that they're paying me. Then when the second year came in I didn't want to be labeled as a guy who played well in a contract year. There's always something that you're striving for. You don't always stop and smell the roses. Sometimes there is a setback that does slow you down. He's at the age where he realizes it. Maybe he cherishes it a little bit. I can see that. I don't think it will change the way he plays, but it might change his self-grinding. You can enjoy the ride. I don't think there is any harm in that."
Pedroia also points out that this new process won't just about playing the game, and appreciating it while doing so, but also not letting other elements derail those intentions.
He admits that the distractions and controversies that have come with playing on a big league baseball team in Boston had previously been obstacles. No more, he insists.
"I tell our guys, you can be on top the world in one instance you can't play. So you better enjoy it. It happens quick. You appreciate it more, no matter where you're at or what you're doing. You better enjoy it," Pedroia said.
"I don't let anything bother me anymore. Just little things. Just nonsense. It's not worth it. You're only going to be in this game for a certain amount of time. You shouldn't have anything to affect you. You should enjoy it every day. Nothing bothers me anymore. I'm just going to play, enjoy the guys I'm playing with and that's it."
Pedroia will get his first opportunity to test the knee, and the approach, Friday. He is viewing it as his second act, one which the player and the team is banking on working out as well as the first one (if not better).
"I didn't have any realization of it before. I didn't think about it. Until you can't be out there, you don't appreciate it as much. And I appreciated it," he said. "What I do is cool. It's a great game."
