Pedroia has muscle tear in right thumb

Dustin Pedroia said after the Red Sox' 6-3 win over the Tigers Tuesday night at Fenway Park that he has been diagnosed with having a slight tear in the adductor muscle in his right thumb. The second baseman explained the injury first occurred while hitting three weeks ago, and was aggravated during Monday's game.

The most recent diagnosis came after Dr. Donald Sheridan, whom performed surgery on Pedroia's hamate bone following the 2007 season, viewed an MRI of the thumb after the team and player sought a second opinion.

Pedroia and the Red Sox will wait until Wednesday to determine if a trip to the 15-day disabled list is needed, with the 28-year-old saying the plan was for him to see how much the swelling went down and then gauging if he could hit with a specially-made brace. Pedroia surmised that if he wasn't able to play, or if it was decided that continued activity would risk further damage, the recovery time would be between 3-4 weeks.

"I'm optimistic," Pedroia said. "We're still talking about it. Hopefully the swelling and stuff goes down and I won't miss that much time." He later added when asked what was needed to be shown Wednesday to stay away from the disabled list. "I don't have to show them anything. I've played with injuries before. It's just a matter of me being able to swing with a brace on it or something. So I'm going to go get something made, see how it feels and if I can't do it then I think it's 3-4 weeks. Hopefully it's not that."

Both Pedroia and Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said the prospect of surgery was never mentioned. Cherington also said that the injury only appears to bother Pedroia when he is hitting, and doesn't appear to affect his throwing.

"Well, I think he would do everything tomorrow if we ask him to do it, it's not so much seeing what he can do, it's listening to him, seeing how he's feeling, he felt a lot better today," Cherington said. "Factoring in the opinions of the medical staff and how much we can protect it, how that risk-reward balance shifts. As far as playing short that's never what you want to do. Sometimes we are willing to do it in the right situation and when you have one of your best players there's a chance that you're going to go on the DL, sometimes you have to make that compromise on that roster. We're not there yet."

"We've been talking about, but I heal quick so I guess that's a good thing," said Pedroia when asked about the chance of going on the disabled list. "So hopefully I don't have to go on the DL and I can help the team as fast as I can."

Cherington reiterated that the injury was not nearly as severe as the one sustained by Kevin Youkilis in 2010, when the Red Sox infielder was forced to have surgery due to a tear in his adductor muscle. The difference, he explained, was that with Youkilis there was a tendon which pulled off a bone.

"Youk's was a lot worse," Pedroia added. "Youk had some other things. Actually I lucked out because where I did mine was in the meatiest part of my thumb. So there is some good news."

For more Red Sox news, go to the team page at weei.com/redsox.