"Having already won a Gold Glove as a first baseman, Kevin Youkilis isn't dismissing the possibility he could win one this year in his new role as the Red Sox' third baseman.

"It would be cool if I could play just as well at third base and try to win a Gold Glove," said Youkilis, who will move across the diamond this season to make room for newly acquired first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

"There are a lot of great third basemen out there," he said. "But I'm not worried about the accolades and all that. I'm just worried about making the routine plays and trying to make a couple of great plays here and there and get our pitchers out of some jams."

Though he was a third baseman when he arrived in the big leagues in 2004, Youkilis moved to first when he became a full-time player in 2006. He won a Gold Glove in 2007, helping the Red Sox to their second World Series championship in four years.

Youkilis split the 2009 season, moving from first to third, but has made it clear that, however the Red Sox use him, his preference is to play one position.

With Gonzalez now on board, that position will be the hot corner.

"It just comes to you naturally when you play that position," Youkilis said. "You can't sit back. .?.?. When you're playing first base you kind of get a little bit lazy, whereas at third base you're prepared.

"I don't worry what the critics are saying about how I'm playing third base. I know I'm going to make some errors at third base. I just want to make the plays and not make mental errors. I know I'm going to get bad hops; you're going to make a low throw here and there."