Shane Victorino unlikely to return from DL on Wednesday

Shane Victorino hasn't played a game for the Red Sox since May 20, and is eligible to come off of the disabled list on Wednesday, June 5. However, from what manager John Farrell is saying, Victorino might not return after the minimum number of days, as his hamstring hasn't quite healed all the way.

"There's been no setbacks, there's been no reaggravation of it," Farrell said. "It's just a matter of when he tries to get to that explosiveness, he doesn't have the quite the confidence and we're honestly telling him to more gradually get into it.

It sounds as if the Red Sox would rather give Victorino a few extra days to get right, rather than have him push back to return the moment he can and risk this injury becoming something more serious. With Jackie Bradley Jr. up now, the Red Sox at least have more than one player capable of playing center field, and a better defensive player than any of Daniel Nava, Mike Carp, or Jonny Gomes for right or left field, as needed.

Bradley has appeared in five games since he was recalled, and has hit .333/.333/.500 in that stretch. It's just four hits in five games, but considering he collected all of three in his first 12 in the majors to begin the year, the Sox will take it.

Victorino has been very productive for the Red Sox despite a lack of power. He has a .343 on-base percentage and 705 OPS, and both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs believe moving out of center and into right field has been phenomenal for his defensive numbers. We'll see if those hold up over time -- he's appeared in just 34 games and it's only the first week of June -- but early returns have been positive.