The Royals have traded infielder Tug Hulett to the Red Sox in exchange for a player to be named or cash considerations. Hulett was designated for assignment on November 20. The 26-year old hit .111 in 15 games for the Royals in 2009 after being claimed off waivers from the Mariners on February 19. In addition to the Hulett trade, the Royals secured Unconditional Release Waivers on right-handed pitcher Julio Pimentel, who is now a free agent.

The Cubs have eight players who are arbitration-eligible, but trimmed the number they have to give raises to by one on Thursday, trading Aaron Heilman to the Arizona Diamondbacks for two Minor League prospects. Heilman, 31, was 4-4 with a 4.11 ERA in 70 games in his only season in Chicago. The right-handed reliever was on a long list of arbitration-eligible players, joining Carlos Marmol, Mike Fontenot, Jeff Baker, Sean Marshall, Ryan Theriot, Koyie Hill and Angel Guzman. Marmol, Fontenot, Theriot and Guzman are first-time arbitration-eligible, but all will get raises. "We feel like we got two solid prospects from the Diamondbacks," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said Thursday. "As we move forward in the winter, the way our big league club sets up and the way we have a lot of arb guys, we felt we needed to move some people a little bit before we get to Indianapolis [for the Winter Meetings]."

The Brewers dealt shortstop J.J. Hardy to the Twins for speedy center fielder Carlos Gomez. It eases the shortstop logjam between Hardy, a former All-Star, and Alcides Escobar, the organization's top prospect, essentially handing the baton to Escobar for 2010. It gives the Brewers their center fielder and perhaps their leadoff hitter, making Milwaukee even more unlikely to pursue two of its outgoing free agents, Mike Cameron and Felipe Lopez.

The Kansas City Royals have announced that they have acquired infielders Chris Getz and Josh Fields from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for infielder/outfielder Mark Teahen and cash considerations. Teahen, 28, was a .269 career hitter for the Royals in five seasons. He hit .271 with 12 home runs and 50 RBI in 144 games in 2009. The deal was largely rumored to be close to completion on Thursday.

The Red Sox have acquired 25-year-old OF Jeremy Hermida from the Marlins for LHPs Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez. Hermida had a .259/.348/.392 season for the Marlins. ?This was not a blockbuster," said Jeremy Hermida. "This was a value trade, a chance to get a guy with unfulfilled potential at a reasonable cost. "The last two years, there were high expectations that didn?t come together for him. His performance certainly hasn?t been as good the last two years as it was in 2007. I can tell you that?s the reason we were able to acquire him today. Had he maintained that performance or had linear progression from 2007 to today, there?s no way we would have been trading for him, let alone in this kind of a deal. "Hermida is a player who hasn?t fulfilled his potential yet. We acquired him today for a reasonable cost to see if he might be able to fulfill that potential with us. He?s somebody who has positive indicators that future performance might be better than his past performance. His minor-league track record, his age, his draft pedigree, our scouting reports over the year indicate there?s a chance that he can turn into the player he was once thought to be. "Certainly this is a good time to acquire him when his value is a little bit low and to see if with a change of scenery he will be able to fulfill his potential. "He is somebody who had and we feel may still have considerable promise. This is a player who was highly sought after as an amateur. We liked him in the draft. "He?s about to move into his prime years. Sometimes talented young players who struggle at the big-league level put it all together and sometimes they don?t. We had a chance to acquire one for what we deemed to be a very reasonable cost."

The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced they have acquired infielder Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for right-handed pitcher Jesse Chavez. The announcement was made by Pirates Senior Vice President, General Manager Neal Huntington. The 30-year-old Iwamura, who was a nine-year veteran of the Japanese Central League while playing with Yakult from 1998 to 2006, spent the last three seasons playing with Tampa Bay. He was converted from a third baseman to a second baseman following the 2007 campaign and went on to make 152 appearances at second base for the American League champion Rays in 2008.