Manny Delcarmen’s agent, Jim Masteralexis, was told by Red Sox officials that the Nationals approached Boston about a trade that would send reliever Manny Delcarmen to Washington in exchange for first baseman Nick Johnson. Masteralexis was told by the Sox that the trade proposal was “immediately shot down.”

Delcarmen is 1-1 with a 0.95 ERA for the Red Sox this year. He is making $476,000, becomes arbitration eligible for the first time after this season and is under team control through the 2012 season. Johnson is in the final year of a three-year, $16.5 million contract that is paying him $5.5 million this year. He will be a free agent following the season.

The idea of a Delcarmen-for-Johnson exchange was first reported by Peter Gammons on an interview on ESPN’s Mike & Mike In the Morning Show today.