"The Red Sox made a minor move yesterday that might not impact them immediately, but one they hope eventually bears fruit.

They acquired versatile infielder Mike Aviles from the Kansas City Royals for infielder Yamaico Navarro and minor league right-hander Kendal Volz.

The 30-year-old Aviles, who finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2008, has minor league options and could end up at Triple-A Pawtucket, where the Red Sox hope he can learn to play the outfield and then become a super-sub in the mold of Bill Hall, who played everywhere last year.

"He's a guy our organization has liked from afar for a while," manager Terry Francona said. "He came up and he was the guy that could really hit left-handers. His ability to play short, second, third .?.?. he can run, he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. How we would use him, I'm not sure."

Aviles arrived during last night's game and replaced Kevin Youkilis at third base in the ninth inning of a 10-2 victory against the White Sox.

A seventh-round pick out of Division?2 Concordia in 2003, Aviles hit .325 for the Royals in 2008 before elbow surgery ended his 2009 season. He returned to hit .304 in 110 games last year but was hitting .222 in 53 games before the trade this year.

He is, however, hitting .309 with a .944 OPS against lefties, which could prove useful in a reserve role at the big league level."