FORT MYERS, Fla. — A couple weeks ago, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia — whose name was floated as a potential answer for the team as a shortstop in 2010, before the club signed free agent Marco Scutaro — said that he had not taken any grounders at shortstop this spring. That is no longer the case.

Pedroia stood next to Scutaro and took about 10 groundballs at shortstop on Sunday morning. Pedroia showed a strong arm, zipping the ball from the left side of the infield to first. True to the assessment of former Red Sox scouting director Jason McLeod this offseason, Pedroia — who was a college Defensive Player of the Year as a shortstop at Arizona State University — moved well at the position.

“He has a great arm, good hands, good feet,” said Scutaro. “Without a doubt, he could play short.”

So, what gives? Could the Sox be exploring Pedroia as a shortstop on days when Scutaro is unavailable? Was it a sign that the Sox would like to explore someone other than Bill Hall as a backup shortstop, perhaps with an idea of having Pedroia at that position and Hall at second on days when Scutaro is out?

As it turns out. . . no.

The exercise was intended merely to build Pedroia’s arm strength, which can diminish if he only spends his time at second base for too prolonged a stretch.

“Gotta keep my arm strong,” explained Pedroia. “Gotta go cut off some relays.”

“It’s good to throw a little longer,” agreed Scutaro. “I can understand that, because I used to play a lot of second. Why you play second, your arm gets down. It gets kind of weak.”

Scutaro said that he heard the suggestions that the Sox were considering a move of Pedroia to shortstop, an approach that could have allowed the club to pursue free-agent options at second base such as Orlando Hudson. Though Scutaro believes that Pedroia could handle the position, neither he nor the club have any dismay about the outcome of the offseason.

“Everything worked out,” said Scutaro.

In theory, the team believes that Pedroia can play shortstop. But it appears that fact isn’t particularly relevant to the club at this juncture.

“Sure he is [capable of playing short],” said Sox third base and infield coach Tim Bogar. “But we’re not even going there.”

Red Sox shortstop Jed Lowrie, whose season was hampered by the need for surgery on his left wrist in April and a difficult recovery process from it, met with Dr. Donald Sheridan — the specialist who performed surgery on him in April — and was told on Friday morning that his wrist should be fine after an offseason to recover and strengthen the area.

“The prognosis is good,” Lowrie wrote in an e-mail. “With rest, strength and conditioning it should be 100 percent.”

Lowrie hit .147 with a .475 OPS in 32 games this season. Sox general manager Theo Epstein said at the conclusion of the season that the team believes in the young infielder’s talent, but until he proves the ability to remain healthy over the course of a big league season, the team will need other options as short. All the same, the Sox still consider the best-case scenario for their shortstop position in 2010 to be Lowrie’s emergence as a healthy and productive big leaguer.

“Lowrie is an important factor for us,” Epstein said on Monday. “This is a young player we really believe in who has been hurt as a big league player. We’ve not seen the type of player he can be yet at the big league level because he’s been playing hurt the entire time. At some point, the player has to get healthy to be able to show what he can do and to be able to help the organization.

“I don’t think we can hand a job to him because he hasn’t proved his health yet at this point. But at the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re sitting here at this time next year, hopefully with champagne and not having one of these post-mortems, but looking back and saying, ‘Wow, he really got healthy and proved himself in winning that job or playing his way into a meaningful role,’ ” Epstein continued. “Now it’s on him. He’s got to get himself healthy and make an impact. We can’t stake our season on the hope that he’ll be healthy. We have to have other options.”

LOWELL — Jed Lowrie didn’t pick up a ball and glove as a child in Salem, Ore., so he could one day be discussed in a deal for Johan Santana. He didn’t bust his hump to be named 2004 Pac-10 Player of the Year at Stanford so front offices everywhere could one day scramble to decide which position he projected to play in the majors. He didn’t make the 2007 Eastern League All-Star team so the scar tissue connecting a broken bone in his left wrist could one day tear. Jed Lowrie had none of these dreams when getting into baseball.

Lowrie feels he's ready to do something he's never done for the Red Sox: play healthy

Now finally ready to return to the Sox after a wrist/scapholunate ligament cocktail spiked with a bruised right knee (he could be activated as soon as Saturday), Lowrie is anxious to do the other thing that comes with playing baseball: play baseball.

“I’m just looking forward to getting back and being a baseball player,” said Lowrie after his final rehab start in Lowell on Wednesday. For the switch-hitting shortstop, however, playing baseball hasn’t been as simple as fielding a position and taking swings at the plate, especially in his time as a professional.

Lowrie appeared in half of the Red Sox’ games last season, playing 386 error-less innings at shortstop while also getting time in at third base and second base, his college position. All of this, of course, was done with a broken wrist.

The ’05 sandwich pick first injured the wrist last season on May 15 during a game in Buffalo. Due to inflammation the problem wasn’t initially as painfully obvious as it became down the stretch for the infielder.

“Throughout the year it continued to get worse,” said Lowrie, who felt discomfort as he went on to hit .222 from the left side of the plate for Boston. “By the end of the year, my grip strength was under 50 percent on my left hand.

“It’s hard enough to play your first season in the major leagues, but it made it that much harder when I was playing with a broken wrist and I had to convince myself everyday that I was okay,” added Lowrie. “Looking back on it, I think it will make me better.”

While rehabbing the wrist for Pawtucket, Lowrie was plunked on the right knee on June 26 against Norfolk, further setting him back and requiring him to play two games for the PawSox as a designated hitter. He chalks it up to bad luck, but Lowrie is clearly excited to have the rehab over and done with after going 6-for-23 (.260) in his final six games since returning to short.

Lowrie said he followed the progress of the Red Sox while he recovered from surgery and got back into playing shape, even if it meant he could only check box scores because he himself was playing a game at the same time. One thing he did get to see, however, was the reception that former Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra was given last Monday for his eight and a half years of service. Factor in the fact that Lowrie is one of 18 (!) men who have manned the position for the Sox since July 31, 2004, and you have a man with lofty goals.

“I would love to be that guy [that finally fills the long-term need at short]. It’s up to me to go out there and be the player that I know I can be,” said Lowrie, who added that Garciaparra’s ovation was “well-deserved for the work he put in there.”

Knowing that 2010 will have to be his next crack at his first full season in the majors, Lowrie says that his injuries and loss of a starting job that was seemingly his are both “in the past” and that he’s focused on doing whatever he can for Boston for the rest of the season. Make no mistake — there are plenty of things Lowrie can dwell on: a great spring training followed by a horrid 1-for-18 start this season, the fact that he could be the major-league-ready shortstop the Blue Jays might be seeking in a deal for Roy Halladay… the list goes on. While the distractions have been there for him (“I was thinking about so many things [last year] other than just playing the game”), nothing seems to be bigger to Lowrie than rejoining a team in the middle of yet another pennant race.

“For me now,” said Lowrie, “it’s looking forward.”