Despite the win last night, the Red Sox got depressing news to go hand in hand with that win. After being hit on the wrist in the ninth inning of last night's game, Will Middlebrooks reportedly has suffered a broken wrist. This is a particularly nasty injury as it almost derailed David Ortiz's career and can definitely be a nagging injury. Hopefully, it has no real effect on Middlebrooks' career-- but he will miss at least a good portion, if not all of the remaining season. This raises the question of who will play third base in Middlebrooks' absence. The main candidates should be Mike Aviles, Pedro Ciriaco, Nick Punto, and Danny Valencia. Aviles has played plenty of third in his career, but he's been below average with a -17.7 UZR and has been great at shortstop this year with an 11.6 UZR-- he should remain at shortstop. Ciriaco is the most intriguing option on this list, as he hasn't played much third in his career (just 6 innings) but it would present the Red Sox with an opportunity to get his bat in the lineup. Punto and Valencia should remain backup plans as neither have hit well-- .200 and .198, respectively-- or played good defense at the hot corner. I think the Red Sox should try and move Ciriaco to third with Aviles sticking at short.
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