With righthander James Shields pitching opening day for Tampa Bay, the right-handed Rocco Baldelli may not see the field today.

However, with tough lefty Scott Kazmir, Baldelli's longtime teammate, on the hill tomorrow night, there's a good chance Baldelli could be in the lineup.

"I'd like to. We'll see how today goes, but Kazmir has been real tough on us, and some of our lefties, to boot. It seems like, especially with a couple days off and not playing, it would be a good idea," manager Terry Francona said.

Now that he knows what he will get out of Baldelli after the outfielder's healthy spring, the Rhode Island native could play all over the outfield this year, though most likely in center or right, spelling Jacoby Ellsbury or J.D. Drew, Francona said. Left Fielder Jason Bay rarely misses a game.

The Sox could use him in "Center, right, and left - now, Jason Bay plays a lot. J.D. is the guy who, if you look back at the history of guy's careers, he has missed a lot of games," Francona said.

"He also gives us that right handed bat against certain lefties to play center field, and he can DH a bit too, so that's how we look at it," Francona said.