Dustin Pedroia has played through a partially torn adductor muscle in his right thumb for much of the season, but now a ?new? thumb injury has forced the Red Sox second baseman to the disabled list.
Boston made the move official before tonight?s game, with manager Bobby Valentine telling reporters that Pedroia?s current injury is a sprained right thumb that?s unrelated to the previous injury and occurred Tuesday while diving for a ball defensively.
Valentine indicated during an interview with WEEI radio that the Red Sox hope to have Pedroia back shortly after the All-Star break, and in the meantime they called up infielder Pedro Ciriaco from Triple-A to take his roster spot.
Pedroia got off to a strong start this season, hitting .295 with an .850 OPS to basically duplicate his career norms through 48 games, but since suffering the initial thumb injury on May 28 he?s hit just .210 with a .587 OPS in 26 games.
Ciriaco is a 26-year-old journeyman who was signed as a minor-league free agent in January and has never hit much in the minors, so he?s more likely to serve as a bench depth than to fill in for Pedroia. Of course, with presumed fill-in Nick Punto hitting just .180 and third baseman Will Middlebrooks also banged up Valentine may feel like getting creative with the infield.
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