Strength beyond statistics: Dustin Pedroia's injury prone wrist may kill his swing, will not kill his worth

Red Sox second basemen, Dustin Pedroia is an amazing player with some terrible luck. 

Earlier this week, Pedroia, who had been feeling pain in his left wrist for months now, went in for a preventive MRI exam Tuesday afternoon. Soon after, WEEI's Alex Speier tweeted that "Farrell says MRI showed Pedroia dealing with soreness/inflammation in left wrist. Could be shut down for duration of year, but no decision yet." 

Not too long after that, the speculative report was confirmed to be of reality when it was announced that Pedroia's season would end with surgery. Through the MRI results, doctors discovered a wide array of scar tissue, damaged tendons and inflamed ligaments and proposed that such abnormalities be physically removed from Pedroia's wrist. 

Suddenly faced with a stark decision, the Red Sox chose to finally call it quits on a season Pedroia wanted desperately to finish. Doctors successfully completed surgery on Pedey's hand Thursday morning officially making 2014 the third consecutive season ending for Pedroia with an operation of some sort. The latter of those facts has begun to fringe upon the worrisome; especially given the fact that Pedroia is owed a total of 91 million dollars over the next 7 years.

Almost a decade into his career, his place in Red Sox history is well defined. Dustin Pedroia is one of the greatest second basemen to ever play for the Hub. He has carved this spot out of a massive block of setbacks thrown against him, the largest of which being the fact that he is anything but large. Standing 5 feet 8 inches tall, Pedroia does not necessarily have the power hitter's build. Nevertheless, he has hit 106 home runs to go alongside 546 RBI's logged in a stunning data set of consecutive seasons with more than 95% of games scheduled started. As he ages though, all those great statistics begin to fall away as Pedroia loses some of his strength. In 135 games played this season, Pedroia has hit a career low batting average of .270 while also striking his fewest home runs total ever. Additionally, his weakened wrists have been blamed for causing a suddenly "horrible" swing. 

“If you don’t have your hand strength, you’re not able to follow through (on your swing) like you normally do," Pedroia said just after the MRI, "It makes it tough. But you’ve got to try to find ways in other areas to help your team win.” 

And so it is revealed that the situation is grim. Dustin Pedroia has suffered his 3rd straight injury to his wrist and is visibly deteriorating in regards to his athletic prowess. Furthermore, much of Red Sox nation has now begun to ask the question; was last year's mega contract paid to Pedroia worth it? The answer is not clear but what we do know is that if in a few years Pedroia really begins to become a non-factor offensively, his place within the Red Sox roster will still be valued and that the contract will not be a total bust. Pedroia has a drive to win that helped compel him for example to play all last year with a broken finger.  He appreciates where he is in life and is grateful. Those are some of the most important qualities in a ball player.

“It means a lot to play baseball in the major leagues, especially with the Boston Red Sox. There shouldn’t be one guy in here that thinks they’re going to pack it in. We’re here for each other and trying to play. It doesn’t matter where we are in the standings," he said. 

Nothing can hold Dustin Pedroia back and even if that eventually causes his swing to die an untimely death, it is his stunning will to win that makes him great beyond his statistics.