Dustin Pedroia is nearing a return to batting practice. His trash talk is in midseason form, which Red Sox manager Alex Cora sees as a good sign in his former teammate's rehab from offseason knee surgery.
"He was telling me a story today," Cora said on Tuesday morning at JetBlue Park. "He's golfing. Whatever. I don't know. I never thought he was going to be a golfer. He said he beat David Price a week ago, shot an 81. You ask him. I don't believe 75 percent of the things Pedey says, but the other 25 percent I know are good."
Golf course exploits aside, Pedroia is expected to be sidelined until Memorial Day as he returns from cartilage restoration surgery. In the meantime, he has been a constant presence at JetBlue Park, trash-talking teammate Eduardo Rodriguez during pregame ping-pong on Tuesday.
But he's also ramping up some baseball activities.
"He's actually swinging the bat, taking groundballs, but they have to be right at him, but he looks good," Cora said. "Like I said before, just him being around, it pushes the guys around him. They see him going through his workouts and he looks younger than he did in October. That's the good thing. Just upbeat, talking, doing his thing. That's always good."
The next step: BP on the field, possibly next week. The last hurdle will be lateral movement in the field, which Cora admitted "could take a while."
"He's another one, when he comes back, we want him to stay healthy throughout, not only this year but the upcoming years, so he's starting to absorb that information and he understands where I'm coming from," Cora said. "But I'm happy that he's around and he looks better each day."
