Dustin Pedroia’s Extension: Reaction & Analysis

Dustin Pedroia is very likely to finish his career in Boston now that he and the Red Sox have agreed to a seven-year, $100MM extension that will run through the 2021 season.  Here is a roundup of news about the deal will impact Pedroia, the Red Sox and another certain AL East second baseman…

• Pedroia told reporters (including Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe) that he put a priority on being a Red Sox player for life out of loyalty to the club.  "The Red Sox drafted me and a lot of teams passed on me because of my size and stuff like that," Pedroia said.  "It's pretty important. That's why I want to work as hard as I can to make sure that they made the choice in drafting me and me being here my whole career."
• This feeling manifested itself in the timing of Pedroia's extension, as WEEI.com's Rob Bradford points out that Pedroia put the team ahead of waiting until free agency or until Robinson Cano had signed his new contract.
• Speaking of Cano, Pedroia's acceptance of a "hometown discount" type of contract could affect Cano's forthcoming free agent contract, opines David Brown of Yahoo Sports.  It has been speculated that Cano's next deal will pay him $200MM and Cano is "a better player than Pedroia, though not by that much. He's not twice as good as Pedroia."  I suspect that with big spenders like the Yankees and Dodgers involved in the Cano sweepstakes, Cano won't have any trouble finding a deal in the $200MM range, Pedroia's deal notwithstanding.
• Pedroia's value to the Red Sox goes beyond the field and, given Boston's clubhouse problems in 2012, CBS Sports' Danny Knobler writes that the team wanted to ensure that one of its key leaders would remain in the fold.
• Second basemen have a history of declining in their early 30's, but Fangraphs' Dave Cameron still likes the Pedroia extension for the Red Sox since they were able to get him at a relative bargain price.  "With the going rate of inflation in baseball, $15 million per year could easily be the market price for an average player by the middle of this contract," Cameron writes.  He also uses Ian Kinsler's five-year, $75MM extension with the Rangers as a comparison and notes that Kinsler and Pedroia have similar value as hitters and Pedroia has a large defensive edge.