Red Sox: Dustin Pedroia speaks on leadership, “I’m standing right here”
By Adam Buskey
Boston Red Sox veteran Dustin Pedroia’s leadership has come into question lately, here’s how he’s responding.
The Boston media had been questioning the leadership within the clubhouse throughout this year, Dustin Pedroia had enough of all the outside talk. Let’s face it, the club house has had a large elephant roaming around the past couple weeks, relevant to the Eckersley vs. Price situation.
Despite the young Phenom Rafael Devers making his presence known, and the acquisition of Eduardo Nunez before the trade deadline, The Red Sox are still the worst team in baseball since July 2nd. It starts with leadership. This team has been equipped with talent yet lack of serious leadership within the organization. Prior to Ortiz riding off into the sunset, he handed the torch off to the little guy before the 2017 season began. Prior to Pedroia standing up before the media, his leadership skills had been questioned as well.
Dating back to April, the team’s leadership was tested, as well as Pedroia’s when what seemed to have a been a cheap, cleats up slide by Baltimore Oriole’s third basemen, Manny Machado that knocked Pedroia out for the remainder of that game in Camden Yards. There is a moral code in the game of Baseball, you always back up your teammates right away when a situation like that occurs, only the team backed up Pedroia in an unnecessary situation.
As shown from MLB.com, here’s a visual of the unnecessary way of handling how to back up your teammate, with the Red Sox leading the O’s, Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes thought he could take matters into his own hands. Here Barnes decides to throw at Machado twice, not just at a safe spot on like the calf or hip area, but right at his noggin. You just don’t throw at a guys head no matter what the circumstances are. As Barnes was ejected, Machado stares down Pedroia in what looked like disbelief. Pedroia, who was out of the lineup due to cheap slide by Machado, barks back at him and lips, “it’s not me, it’s them.” As the season went on, people were lacking the faith of Pedroia and how he leads this team. We should all know by now, Pedroia has never been a vocal leader, he let’s his talent do the talking and everyone follows his work ethic on and off the field.
Next: Red Sox: Tempest in a teapot or division?
As we fast forward to Friday night, Pedroia has had enough of all of this hogwash about him and the state of the clubhouse, it was time for him to remove the elephant in the room. Everyone was huddled around eager to hear what was to be said. Incase you missed it, here’s Pedroia’s full take. Do you believe him? Can Pedroia lead this team out of the rubble they put themselves in?