Boston Red Sox will be better off without Dustin Pedroia in 2020
The Boston Red Sox will be a better team if Dustin Pedroia doesn’t return in 2020 and Michael Chavis takes over as the full-time second baseman.
Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been one of the most recognized players on the team over the last 14 years. Unfortunately for Pedey, injuries have derailed him in four of the last five seasons. Yes, a great season in 2016, only to follow it up with 114 games over the last three seasons including just nine games over the last two. Pedroia has turned into our version of the Mets third baseman David Wright.
Pedroia is still on the books for another two seasons but now more than ever might be the right time to call it a career. He’s won the Rookie of the Year, the Most Valuable Player Award, and he’s a three-time World Series Champion. Pedroia owes nothing to anyone. He’s done it. Pedey is now 36 years old and his career was dwindling.
The Red Sox have been able to build around the second base position which has remained one of weakness until 2019.
Prior to Michael Chavis joining the team, the Sox really had no clear cut second baseman. Eduardo Nunez was never going to be the answer and neither was Brock Holt. Chavis caught fire almost immediately, and with a slash of .254/18/58/2 in 95 games, I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t excited to see what the future was going to hold for the young rookie. At 23 years old, he’s more than a decade younger than the former second baseman.
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Will Pedroia be a Hall of Famer? No. With three hits spanning the last two seasons and just under 200 hits for 2,000, barring a miracle, I don’t think anyone thinks he will get there. He has had a great career in Boston and playing for one team his whole career won’t be something fans forget. Could he come back as a hitting coach or special instructor for the team? Sure! The days of him playing, however, appear to be over.
Boston has $13.125 million owed to him in 2020 and another $12.125 million in 2021. Multiple players will not be coming back unless they take a significant pay cut and I doubt any player will do that unless they live in Boston and want to end their career here. Will Pedroia leave over $25 million on the table to help Boston financially? Time will tell, although he probably thinks he will play in 2020 albeit, a limited role. There is no way Pedroia starts over Chavis unless he struggles.
Chavis, if we assume his numbers represented nearly a full season and taking into account some injury time, it’s possible to expect Chavis slashing around the .254/25/81/3 mark. Not bad considering we all expect him to get better over the next couple of years. It’s more damage than what Pedroia would have done. Pedey has always been an on-base machine, not a power guy.
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Chavis started off as both a power and on-base dual-threat before other teams locked onto him. If he can make the adjustments, you can expect him to be a star in the not so near future. All signs, however, would make Pedroia’s 2016 campaign his last as a full-time starter for the Red Sox. The future at second base looks very bright as long as Chavis continues to shine. We can only hope that 2020 brings more success at the position.