Gotta keep plugging along when there's money on the table.

OTOH, his "most similar" player through 35 is Julio Franco. So the Sawx would be wise to extend Pedroia now, when his value is low.

Not a great sign when you're as old as the GM.

#1, in that case, he's probably worth a 13 year, 15 million dollar extension. Estimate of Franco's earnings in those years, as bbref has a few years blank plus he made some money for seasons in Japan, Korea, and Mexico.

Not a great sign when you're as old as the GM.

Not so bad these days. Some GMs are hired so young that not all players of the same age have hit their peaks*.

*Yeah, I know average peak is estimated to be 24-27 or so, but Epstein was hired as a GM at 28 and we can safely say now that 28 year old Jose Bautista had not yet hit his peak.

I do recall a conversation with a current assistant GM a few years back in spring training. I mentioned that one player in camp had gone to the same high school I did. When asked if we played together I told him if I said yes, he should release the player immediately. I was there at least 10 years before the player was.

Fun fact (pretty much every fact about Julio Franco is fun): Franco was last active in 2014 as a 55 year old, playing for Fort Worth. He was more than twice as old as the average player in the league.

And oh my goodness the Mexican League must be weak. In 2001, as a 42 year old, he put up a 437/497/678 line. Of course he still had six year left in his MLB career at that point, but that's an amazing line.

Good for Pedroia, I hope he has the chance for a few meaningful at-bats, at least.

And oh my goodness the Mexican League must be weak. In 2001, as a 42 year old, he put up a 437/497/678 line. Of course he still had six year left in his MLB career at that point, but that's an amazing line.

Luis Polonia played on that team, the Tigres, and hit .365/.425/.582!

The Tigres were monsters that year, team OPS of 857. No other team topped 790.

Franco was last active in 2014 as a 55 year old, playing for Fort Worth.

And he still wasn't done, playing for and managing in the Japanese independent league the following year! (Also, when he turned 60 in 2018, he hinted at another comeback...)

Pedroia was half-way decent HOF candidate before he got hurt: by age 32, he had 51 WAR, the ROY, the MVP, 4 ASG, 4 GGs and 2 rings. The counting numbers were a bit weak, though, and of course it would take a miracle for him to get in now.

The Tigres were monsters that year, team OPS of 857. No other team topped 790.

Overall the Mexican league wasn't extremely high scoring that year. That team stands out, probably due to a park factor since the elevation of Mexico City is higher than for Denver.

I considered that, but they did win a ton of games, so they were also just good.

That team stands out, probably due to a park factor since the elevation of Mexico City is higher than for Denver.

Yep, this is the right answer. He was the best hitter on the team by a not-insignificant amount, but was also playing in an extreme hitter's environment.

The Mexican League is usually somewhere between AA and AAA quality in affiliated ball, with a very wide spread in individual player quality.

Sorry, the "right answer" here is that Julio Franco was a ####### phenomenon. You don't hit 75 points better than everyone else in the league because of altitude.

A phenom who, IIRC, never had a serious knee injury to contend with while in his 30's. IIRC.


Pedroia's gone from "I want to live the rest of my life in relative comfort" to "maybe I can play again"? I'm more likely to grow a third testicle.

He might have a decent HoF case if he wasn't at 2B, 70%+ of games at 2B through Age 32:

Bobby Grich 56.5 WAR, 127 OPS+, 84.6 Rfield
Robinson Cano 55.2 WAR, 126 OPS+, 15 Rfield
Chase Utley 51.8 WAR, 127 OPS+, 137 Rfield
Lou Whitaker 51.7 WAR, 112 OPS+, 62.8 Rfield
Willie Randolph 51.6 WAR, 107 OPS+, 86.9 Rfield
Dustin Pedroia 50.7 WAR, 115 OPS+, 101 Rfield
...
Jose Altuve 38.5 WAR, 127 OPS+, -23 Rfield (through 29)
...
Jeff Kent 29.6 WAR, 121 OPS+, 5.3 Rfield

With Cano's suspension it's entirely possible that none of them are inducted. Expected to see Jeff Kent much higher on the list but he's quite the late bloomer.

Certainly possible, but after Tram got elected I think that there's a lot of (perhaps undue, it's true) optimism surrounding Whitaker's candidacy.

I would have guessed that Altuve was ahead of that pace, but then again I also would have guessed that he's better at defense than that.

I'm with Bivens. I'd love for a fully operations Pedroia to be back in the lineup but I think I have as much chance at stealing Kate Upton from Verlander as that does of happening.

I would have guessed that Altuve was ahead of that pace, but then again I also would have guessed that he's better at defense than that.

Both of these things.

Everyone was all "the living legend" during the postseason (he does have great postseason numbers), but he's going to have to stay healthy for a good long while to be a lock.

Certainly possible, but after Tram got elected I think that there's a lot of (perhaps undue, it's true) optimism surrounding Whitaker's candidacy.

I'd feel better about his chances if Trammell was one of the current HOFers on the voting committee. Even better if Morris was on there too.

Altuve wasn't good until age 24. So that's 35 WAR in 6 seasons. That makes Utley a good comp with 34 WAR for 24-29.

Surely just coincidence or false impression but top 2B seem to have more weird career patterns than other positions. Joe Morgan was a very good player through age 27 (27 WAR) then put up 48 WAR in 5 seasons then immediately went back to the very good player. Carew was a solid player (20 WAR ages 21-26) with 69 Rbat ... then 39 WAR in 5 seasons with 214 Rbat including 64 in one season. Kent's late blooming has been mentioned. Sandberg had his retirement. Alomar cliff dove more than just about anybody. Utley's career is weird. Whitaker was a 4 WAR player for like 20 straight years. Hornsby got traded to the Giants where he put up 10 WAR so of course they traded him to the Braves where he put up 9 WAR so of course they traded him to the Cubs. And good old C/2B Biggio.

Debut since 1951 (Mays and Mantle), Top 28 in Position player WAR through Age 32:

Not in HoF: Alex Rodriguez 101.2, Barry Bonds 91.8, Albert Pujols 91.4, Mike Trout 72.5 (through 27), Miguel Cabrera 64.9
In the HoF: 23 players down to Reggie Jackson 61.7 and Roberto Clemente 61.4

Excluding HoF pitchers, players who played in 2014 or more recently and Pete Rose, WAR ranking at Age 33+ among the group:

55-61 WAR: 8 HoF, 6 out: T2nd Scott Rolen 15, 4th Bobby Grich 14.6, 11th Buddy Bell 5.8, 12th Keith Hernandez 4.7, 13th Andruw Jones 3, 14th Dick Allen 0.5

50-54.9 WAR: 8 HoF, 13 out: 2nd Lou Whitaker 23.4, 4th Manny Ramirez 18.7, 7th Willie Randolph 14.3, 8th Reggie Smith 13.5, 9th Ken Boyer 12.6, 11th Todd Helton 11, 13th Willie Davis 10.4, 14th Sal Bando 9.4, 17th Chet Lemon 4.6, 18th Joe Torre 4.5, 19th Bobby Bonds 3.2, 20th Vada Pinson 2.9, 21st Cesar Cedeno 1.9

45-49.9 WAR: 14 out, 5 HoF: 1st Paul Molitor 29, 6th Tony Gwynn 20.4, 7th Dave Winfield 18.4, 8th Billy Williams 16.3, (9th is huge drop to John Olerud 9.4), 14th Orlando Cepeda 1.8

40-44.9 WAR: 19 out, 4 HoF: 1st Ozzie Smith 33.7, 3rd Harmon Killebrew 17.1, 9th Kirby Puckett 8.1, T11th Jim Rice 5.7

35-39.9 WAR: 38 out, 5 HoF: 1st Carlton Fisk 28.9, 5th Luis Aparicio 17.7, 8th Tony Perez 15.1, 13th Lou Brock 8.6, T37th Bill Mazeroski 0.2

30-34.9 WAR: 48 out, 1 HoF: 2nd Willie Stargell 24.7

25-29.9 WAR: 69 out, 2 HoF: 1st Edgar Martinez 39.3, 10th Harold Baines 12.4

I don't care how small of a chance it is, I'm glad to hear he's thinking this way. I can still hope.

I don't care how small of a chance it is, I'm glad to hear he's thinking this way. I can still hope.

Isn’t it pretty much what he has to say to keep getting paid?

As long as he follows the Sox prescribed rehab plan I think he gets paid.

I’ll echomDarren, I love the little fella. One of my all time favorite Sox,

Hornsby got traded to the Giants where he put up 10 WAR so of course they traded him to the Braves where he put up 9 WAR so of course they traded him to the Cubs.

that is such a fun sentence!

he was quite a character, as his SABR bio shows

didn't drink or smoke - but ingested tons of red meat, milk, and ice cream. and oh, how he loved the ponies.

I love Pedroia and want him to be back and healthy and at his peak. While we're at it, I love Carl Yastrzemski and want him to be back and healthy and at his peak.

There is a way to have Yastrzemski in left field in Fenway next season.

The anticipation of #28 is why I specified Carl in #27.

My point, which is admittedly not new, is that I think we're done seeing Pedroia as someone the team can count on for production at 2B. Most of that is for health reasons. Their willingness to leave the position unmanned in the hope that he can come back is noble and admirable, but also not going to help them win in 2020. If we're looking at a "go for it while the window is still open" scenario I don't think they can afford to treat 2B like the job is still Pedroia's.

Pedroia is a Red Sox lifer and totally deserving of the Red Sox HOF.

That said, add me to the "I hope to have a dinner & dancing date with Alyssa Milano next season" chorus.