Pedroia has surgery, may miss early part of camp

BOSTON -- Dustin Pedroia had the less complicated of the two possible surgeries to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb on Wednesday morning in Scottsdale, Ariz. The surgery was performed by Dr. Donald Sheridan.

Pedroia may need to take it easy in the early parts of Spring Training, but he is expected to be fully recovered in time for the regular season.

"[I'm] fully confident in the regular season," general manager Ben Cherington told reporters at the General Manager Meetings in Orlando, Fla. "I think Spring Training, because it's Dustin Pedroia and he doesn't have to worry about making the team. We'll see where he is, and if we need to buy time, we will. We'll know more in the next few weeks."

Pedroia played the entire season in pain after injuring himself during a headfirst slide into first base on Opening Day against the Yankees. Pedroia's power dipped some and he finished with nine homers, the fewest he's hit since 2007, but he still finished with a .301 average and won his third American League Gold Glove Award at second base.

"It's part of the job," Pedroia said before the World Series parade earlier this month. "Everyday players, you go through stuff like this. You've got to try to find a way to manage it. Our training staff was awesome. I just had to limit my swings and do some other things. I found a way to get through it."

There was some speculation that Pedroia may need a more complicated surgery that would require ligament reattachment. The extensive version of the surgery could've cost Pedroia an extra few weeks of recovery time, but Cherington said the simpler version was performed.

"He's out of surgery; it went well," Cherington said. "He did not require the graft that would've been the more extensive procedure. It was the less complicated of the two possibilities, so that was good news."