ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jacoby Ellsbury is set to rejoin the Red Sox for Friday night’s game against the Rays after missing three months with a shoulder injury.

Will Middlebrooks went through a full workout on Thursday night and said he is ready to play, too. He was out for seven games with a left hamstring strain.

Carl Crawford was 2 for 3 for Triple A Pawtucket Thursday night and the tentative plan is for him to come off the disabled list on Monday. That would be his first game of the season.

Dustin Pedroia, on the DL with a thumb injury, also got some good news on Thursday and is close to returning.

The 43-43 Red Sox will soon have the kind of roster they envisioned at the start of spring training but have yet to see. For general manager Ben Cherington, there are no more excuses.

“We’ve been saying for a while that we feel like we have a good team here. But at some point you’ve got to show it on the field and the reality is we’re at .500 at the All-Star break,” Cherington said Thursday night after the team worked out at Tropicana Field.

“We have good players who have been playing and we have good players on the way back. But at some point you have to stop talking about the cavalry coming back and just start winning games. We’re going to do that.”

With the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaching, Cherington said the Red Sox have no plans to break up their roster.

“I don’t envision a scenario where we’re sellers in the traditional sense of the word,” he said. “We have some potential surplus in areas that we’ve been talking to teams about; if there’s a way to help us now and in the future. Every year in Boston is too important. We’re focused on winning this year and still believe we can.”

But Cherington also made it clear he’s not eager to dip into a farm system to deal for short-term rental players.

“You never say never to anything. You’ve got to keep an open mind,” he said. “But we feel really good about our farm system. It’s come a long way even in the last 12 months. We feel like that next generation of Red Sox players is coming.”

How the team plays over the next two weeks will determine whether Cherington leans one way or the other.