BOSTON -- Will Middlebrooks was given the night off on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. It was a move that allows Adrian Gonzalez to get back to first base for at least a game, and it also was a timing move on the part of Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine.
"He's been playing every day since he came back from that little injury I think it's a nice time to do it," said Valentine before Friday's game. "Get two days off in a row and come back fresh. He'll be there tomorrow. He'll be playing tomorrow."
As to where Middlebrooks will play, right now, it doesn't seem likely that it will be anywhere but third base.
"I keep asking myself if there's another position, and I keep hearing no," said Valentine. "So, other than DH, I'm not sure what that would be. We have experimented with some things though, so, I wouldn't say that it's out of the realm of possibility. But it hasn't been discussed in a light that has inspired me."
And while a move isn't out of the realm of possibility, Valentine did say that he hasn't talked to Middlebrooks about moving him to another position.
"I'm trying not to confuse the matter," he said. "If I thought that there was a situation that I'd like to see, then I think that conversation would go. Right now, I'm trying to make sure that a young player's concentrating on what he should be concentrating on. And he's dong a pretty good job at that."