BOSTON -- Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia will avoid a trip to the disabled list for the time being as he and the team try to manage a torn adductor muscle in his right thumb.

The team is fashioning a padded brace for the thumb and will see if Pedroia can play with it. But if that doesn't work, Pedroia said he may be out three or four weeks.

"Right now we're waiting to see how I feel the next couple of days," said Pedroia, who had an MRI on the thumb earlier Tuesday. "My swelling has gone down, the bruising in my thumb has gone down, so we'll just wait and see if I could play. If we can protect it when I go hit, we'll be all right.

"Hopefully I heal quick and get out there as quickly as I can."

General manager Ben Cherington also held out hope a trip to the DL could be avoided.

"We're still talking through it," he said. "We got a lot more info on it today and we spent a lot of time talking to him and talking to doctors about how to deal with it. Obviously with a guy as important to the team as he is, we're always hopeful to avoid the DL.

"If there's a way to manage it safely where it's in his best interest and the team's best interest and we could do it in a way that makes sense we'll try to avoid the DL.

"It's pretty clear it can be treated conservatively. It's just a matter of making sure before he goes back out there, we're protecting him the best we can where he's not putting himself at any undue risk and he's in a position to be the player he always is."

Pedroia said he was told the injury, which has been bothering him for about three weeks, will not need surgery.

"I've played with injuries before," he said. "It's a matter of me being able to swing with a brace on it or something. I'll get something made and see how it feels. If I can't do it, I think it's three or four weeks."

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