Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia still dealing with knee pain

Dustin Pedroia isn’t making much progress on the DL. With lingering knee swelling and soreness, do the Red Sox need to start looking elsewhere?

Knee surgery is a tricky thing. Especially when it’s a major surgery and not just a scope to clean out some loose cartilage. That’s why Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s off season procedure was such a huge concern for fans and the organization alike. The cartilage restoration procedure was meant to give him a more permanent fix of his aging knee. That said, it’s still an aging knee. And as his latest trip to the DL suggests, it’s still hurting.

Before we look at what another extended rehab would mean for the Red Sox, let’s take a closer look at the surgery he underwent. Dr. Christopher Geary of Tufts Medical described the cartilage restoration procedure here. The takeaway?

"“While it has not been announced exactly what kind of surgery Pedroia underwent – “cartilage restoration” is a broader category of surgeries which includes multiple different potential techniques- he most likely had a microfracture to address his cartilage injury. In this procedure, multiple holes are poked in the exposed bone of the knee joint in an effort to stimulate new cartilage growth and thereby remove the source of pain.”"

Sounds pleasant, right? It’s certainly a tough rehab to push through. But Dustin Pedroia is no stranger to working through pain. If there’s a member of the 25-man roster capable of doing it, it’s him. He is known to play through discomfort, sometimes to his detriment. Keeping him off the field can be a full time job for a manger all on its own.

How well does this work?

The success rate of the surgery leaves plenty of reason for optimism. Even within MLB there are some examples of players returning to form. While the idea of regrowing cartridge sounds agonizingly slow and difficult, it is successful in getting athletes back on the field pain free far more often than not.

Also from Dr. Geary’s blog post:

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"“This is a well-established procedure with a proven track record for returning players to action – depending on the study you read, between 75-90% of patients have good results with this surgery. There are several examples of players in MLB who have had the procedure and returned to play – in the last few years, examples include Carlos Beltran (2010), Victor Martinez (2012), and Brad Ziegler (2014).”"

There’s still a significant risk of it not panning out, of course. And that’s why the return to the DL has so many people feeling apprehensive. That said, the timeline for his return was about seven months. He underwent the procedure in late October, so that meant getting back on the field some time in May. Dustin Pedroia made his 2018 season debut on May 26. He played in just three games before hitting the shelf again. But it may be that he came back too quickly. One of the things Dr. Geary mentions in his blog post is that timelines vary depending on a number of factors. But what if this isn’t just a normal setback?