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American League Boston Red Sox: In addition to the Trot Nixon for Odalis Perez trade that was recently discussed with the Dodgers (covered elsewhere in today's MLB Insider), Los Angeles apparently also asked to do a Perez for Johnny Damon swap but were told no by the Sox. Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe writes today that Damon is also not headed to Kansas City for Carlos Beltran, squashing a rumor that never made any sense to begin with unless Boston was going to pick up a sizeable percentage of Damon's too-rich-for-KC paycheck.

Chicago White Sox: It is fairly well known that most players hit better when playing a position than they do when acting as designated hitter. It has usually been true with Frank Thomas and is especially true this year writes Joe Cowley of the Daily Southtown. The conundrum for the Sox is that he is such a notorious butcher in the field while their regular first baseman, Paul Konerko, has been suffering through a season so poor his stat line appears to have been plucked from the career of a third-rate middle infielder.

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