BALTIMORE (AP) - Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is bracing for the possibility of having season-ending surgery on his broken left foot.
Pedroia will be examined on Friday.
“I have a CT scan early in the morning,” Pedroia said Thursday before Boston’s game against the Orioles. “If I have to have surgery, we’ll do it later in the day.”
The injury originally occurred in late June. Pedroia returned for two games in August, then went back on the 15-day disabled list. The 2008 AL MVP and the Red Sox hoped for his return this month, but his recovery hasn’t gone as swiftly as anticipated.
Pedroia is reluctant to write off the 2010 season, but acknowledged surgery is probably the best solution.
“I think that would make it heal more,” he said. “They said there’s like a 50 percent chance that (without surgery) I could feel better and still, like what happened last time: I played two games and not be able to walk the next day.
“Putting the screw in is probably the best idea. It’s a 90 percent chance that I heal, that that bone heals,” he said. “So there’s a good chance I’ll have the surgery at some point.”
Pedroia averaged 150 games over the past three season. This year, he’s batting .288 with 12 homers and 41 RBIs in 75 games.
By having surgery now, Pedroia would be able to get a jump on his offseason workouts.
“I don’t want to get to January and go through my workouts and not feel good and then I miss some of next year,” he said. “None of us want that to happen.”
Also for Boston, catcher Jason Varitek ran hard in the infield Thursday and also is scheduled to have a CT scan on his broken right foot. If the examination is encouraging, Varitek could begin a rehabilitation assignment this weekend, manager Terry Francona said.
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