Chase Utley
At first glance, many people including myself at first immediately jump to the fact Chase Utley is older than Pedroia. At 38, Utley is well past his prime days back in Philadelphia, where he played a huge role in the juggernaut that the Phillies were at the time. He has played a veteran role for the Dodgers and is back in the World Series for the third time in his storied career.
With a young core like the Red Sox, Utley would be a great glue guy as well as a leader. When it comes to the postseason, he has played in a total of 64 games. The experience of Utley could pay dividends around the team, even if he isn’t the elite second baseman we remember him like. Many have arguably looked at Pedroia as the veteran presence of this team, so Utley would make sense in terms of replacing him in that way.
Utley’s actual production capability could be why some would shy away from him. In 127 games this year for the Dodgers, Utley only hit .236 with eight home runs and 34 RBI’s in 309 at-bats.
There is no doubt that as we start to worry about Pedroia’s age, Utley’s own age has already become a problem. Since 2014, he hasn’t hit over .255 when he was still in his last full year with the Phillies.
Utley should be an option the club should look at. He also could have value off of the bench when Pedroia came back, but I couldn’t see him putting up much of a fight for the starting job after Pedroia returned.