ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Dustin Pedroia realizes that in all likelihood, surgery is on the horizon. And because of this reality, the second baseman is bracing himself for yet another challenge.

As Pedroia noted Friday, the navicular bone in his left foot could heal enough over the next week to ward off going under the knife. But considering the healing to this point has been minimal since he broke the bone on June 25, avoiding an operation just doesn't seem realistic.

"I don't want to have to have surgery, I have to, or rather the percentages of having it now are more than not having it," Pedroia said prior to the Red Sox' game with the Rays at Tropicana Field Saturday night. "But I don't want to have it."

That said, Pedroia has clearly come to grips with what lies ahead.

With the likelihood of a three-month recovery time soon staring at him in the face, Pedroia can lean on a few facts that offer at least some peace of mind.

The first is knowing that any impending surgery will not involve a bone graft, which would extend the rehabilitation time by as much as three months. It was knowing that there was that possibility looming which instilled the most anxiety for Pedroia when contemplating an operation.

"I was thinking that bone graft surgery and I don't have to have that," Pedroia noted. "I'm not necessarily scared if I have to get that taken care of. I had to rehab my hand when I had my hamate bone taken out. You work hard, try and get your body back together be normal and then build up for the next season."

And that is the second piece of the equation that offers some security. This isn't Pedroia's first rodeo when it comes to dealing with offseason surgery as a major league baseball player.

Following the Red Sox' World Series victory in 2007, Pedroia underwent a procedure to remove the cracked hamate bone in his left hand. 

"I know what to expect," he said. "After the World Series I had my surgery pretty late, not having it until mid-November and then I didn't start hitting until mid-January. It worked out pretty well in '08 for me (winning the American League MVP)."

Pedroia admits that over the last week he has been forced to brace himself for the challenges that come with a surgical procedure on his foot. And while his response to the question of when he might not be able to return this season is, "I got a sense of that in June," a different level of reality has set in.

"Yeah. I get it," he said regarding the obstacles that may be presenting themselves shortly. "I have to get back to normal. I've got to heal. It sucks getting hurt, but there's nothing I can do. From the start I didn't want to have surgery, so we tried and I played and now we have to take care of it. That's the way it's gone. It's been kind of a mess along the way, but I have to get this thing taken care of so I can get back to being me."