With their closer struggling and their ace at partial strength, the Boston Red Sox are sending Curt Schilling to the bullpen to plug a gap there and help him work his way back from an ankle injury. "It's definitely the best thing for him," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said Wednesday, "... and it just so happens to be exactly what the team needs right now." Schilling has been on a minor-league rehab assignment while trying to recover from a right ankle injury that put him on the disabled list after just three starts. In what was expected to be his last rehab appearance, he struggled to get through five innings with Triple-A Pawtucket on Monday. Epstein said the team concluded that Schilling was "a long way" from being the ace who went 21-6 with a 3.26 ERA in the regular season before using an unprecedented medical technique to help pitch the Red Sox to their first World Series title since 1918. "We don't need a five-inning starter right now. We need Curt Schilling to be himself," Epstein said. "We all feel he's not ready to be a dominant starter right now."