It had been a foregone conclusion that Dustin Pedroia wasn't returning to the Red Sox for some time.
Monday he simply punctuated the conversation with an official retirement.
But talking to the media via Zoom, Pedroia revealed how bad his left knee had become, ultimately leading to partial knee replacement surgery in December.
"Last January, not this one the one before, going into 2020, I was still working out, still trying to comeback and play," the 37-year-old second baseman said. "I woke up one morning and my knee was huge. I went and saw the doctors. Everything looked like an explosion went off in there. I was told I needed to get a partial knee replacement. So the team helped me research all the doctors and everybody to find out what the right one was and by the time that happened, I was going to have that surgery, the pandemic hit and that kind of set everything back a lot. It got to a point where surgery finally opened back up and in December I had a partial knee replacement. I spent most of the year last year … I’m glad none of you guys got a chance to see me. I wasn’t in a good place. I grinded every day just to play with kids and just live a normal life. My knee was bad and I’m a young guy. So December I had the surgery and a week later I could tell I could walk without pain. I could do basically everything now except run. I can’t run anymore, which is fine. I don’t need to run. So once I had the surgery … Obviously, no one has ever played with a partial knee replacement because of the fear that it breaks and the rest of my life would be severely impacted by it.
"Obviously the team has been unbelievable with me throughout this process. I think the hardest part was I felt like I was in my prime and understanding how to play the game as I got older. In 2016 was one of my best years and the first month of ’17 I was rolling right along and one play kind of derailed a lot of that and threw us in a pattern we was trying to find a way out of. After all of my trainers and doctors and everybody … We saw everybody and we did it together and we heard the news it wasn’t possible to play with this. So when the cards are stacked against we all tried to do everything possible to continue to play. And I’m proud of that and I’m proud of the way our trainers helped me and the doctors and everybody.
"It wasn’t physically possible to continue to play baseball with a partial knee replacement. Once I got that done I knew. And the team has been great in leading me in the right directions on things to do and how to get better and be better for my everyday life because I’m only 37-years-old I have a long way to go."
For insight regarding his road back from a 2017 knee injury, click here to listen Pedroia on the Bradfo Sho podcast.
For David Ortiz's reflection on Pedroia, click here.