The Sports Beat

• Dustin Pedroia’s 6-year contract extension is a great move by the Sox. While Pedroia will earn more than $40 million dollars during the life of the deal, that total is a fair compromise. Although Pedroia may have just completed a career year, his numbers aren’t likely to fall off too far through his prime years–the ones the Sox just locked him up for. He’s not a speed player, he makes great contact and controls the strike zone (he’s walked 104 times in his career and struck out only 101), and isn’t a huge power guy. So, you can reasonably expect him to maintain his baseline performance for quite some time. Think .360/.440 at least, with solid base stealing stats and good defense. Although not a superstar, those numbers, and the likelihood that he’ll top them, make the deal a great move for Boston. Had Pedroia elected to stick it out through arbitration he likely would have commanded huge dollars in the near future. In his first two season the pesky second baseman has collected two trophies arbitrators fawn over: the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player brass pieces. Throw in mounting base hit totals and Gold Gloves and Pedroia could easily have made another $10 million or so through age 31, when his current deal runs out, and could have required a longer commitment after the arbitration process ended.
• Meanwhile, on the hardwood, Rajon Rondo is becoming everything we hoped he would. Already. Tonight he obliterated the Indiana Pacers. His final line–16 points, 13 boards, 17 assists, and 3 steals in 41 minutes–doesn’t even begin to tell the story. His number could have been even better had the game not drifted in and out of absurdity during the third and fourth quarters. Rondo had 10, 9, and 8 at the end of the first half. He commanded the ball throughout the game, and this on a team that features three future Hall-of-Famers in the starting lineup. Plus, he’s doing all this without any sort of a jumper. Think Chris Paul without the J. That’s what we have in Boston. And he’s only 22. By the time he’s 25 he’ll be the best player on the team (if he’s not by the end of the season), routinely throwing up triple doubles and averaging somewhere from 14-18 points, 6 rebounds, 8-10 assists, and 2 steals per game, depending on whom Danny Ainge supports his young star with. Rondo has taken elements of Steve Nash and Tony Parker’s games and put them together (sans the range), driving at will and maintaining his dribble through the teeth of the defense, while remaining a defensive force. It’s his development that keeps the regular season interesting for Celtics fans, who otherwise might simply hibernate until the playoffs.

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