Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
Clearly, the Red Sox did just fine without Dustin Pedroia — they managed to win 108 regular-season games and dominate everyone en route to yet another World Series title. They accomplished all that despite Pedroia missing all but three games due to setbacks following knee surgery.
The three games he did appear in didn’t go too well, either. The now-35-year-old notched just one hit in 13 trips to the plate. While the knee hampered him during 2017, he just wasn’t himself. His 1.9 fWAR was a career-worst mark, while his .760 OPS and 101 wRC+ were the second-worst marks of his productive career.
Adjusting to offspeed and breaking pitches will be an important piece of the puzzle for Pedroia as he tries to get the latter part of his career back on track. After posting a 139 wRC+ and 154 wRC+ against sliders and changeups in 2016, those numbers dropped to 7 and 54, respectively, in 2017.
The Red Sox have ample depth at second base thanks to the presence of Eduardo Nunez and Brock Holt, but Boston would likely love to see its veteran leader back on the field.
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