Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports Weekly told me in an e-mail that he thinks the Dodgers' acquisition of Nomar Garciaparra for Odalis Perez is "done" if the Red Sox complete their proposed Manny Ramirez for Alex Rodriguez trade.

Nightengale had reported in this week's issue that "the Red Sox hope to finalize the trades by the end of the winter meetings" Monday.

As far as the Dodgers were concerned, Nightengale added that "the tip-off that the trade could be consummated is that the White Sox were informed by the Dodgers that Perez is off the market." The White Sox had been preparing to send Paul Konerko to the Dodgers for Perez, the merits of such a deal notwithstanding.

In fact, there is the possibility that Garciaparra-to-the-Dodgers could happen no matter what. There's this from Rumor Central at ESPN.com:

ESPN's Peter Gammons reports the hard feelings between Garciaparra and the Red Sox over the team's attempts to trade for Alex Rodriguez could lead the team to deal its star shortstop even if it doesn't acquire A-Rod. Rather than enter the season with Garciaparra due to become a free agent and unhappy with management, Boston could deal him to the Dodgers, then make a run at Miguel Tejada in free agency.

From my perspective, there does seem to be enough bad blood brewing between the Red Sox and Garciaparra to make the Red Sox' "hope" more like an urgency. To paraphrase from the daily airings of The Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope gets you killed."

(Editor's note ... Bob Timmermann writes:

Jon, Jon,

Haven't you listened to Vin long enough to know that "Hope is a thing with feathers." Hope doesn't get you killed.

And what other team has a play-by-play guy who quotes Emily Dickinson?

Bob is right on. Anyway ...)

On the other hand, would a Kevin Brown trade kill this deal? Or would that create a new sense of urgency for young Edwin Jackson and recovering Darren Dreifort, as well as rebounding Wilson Alvarez, aging Hideo Nomo and confounding Kazuhisa Ishii? Oh yeah - and Weaver.

For my take on the value of the Dodgers acquiring Garciaparra, click here.

By the way, Nightengale said that he is still confident that Gary Sheffield and the Yankees will officially come to terms.