BOSTON -- With their everyday catcher sidelined with a knee injury, the Red Sox are reportedly set to get Javy Lopez in waiver wire trade with the Orioles, according to various media reports.

"We're obviously optimistic and hopeful something is about to happen," Lopez's agent, Chuck Berry, told The Associated Press on Thursday night. "We've become aware of the Boston possibility, and there have been discussions."

Although a deal has not been finalized yet, Lopez could be acquired by the Red Sox as soon as Friday. Neither the Red Sox nor Orioles would confirm the deal on Thursday.

According to the Boston Herald, citing unnamed sources, the Red Sox would send a Minor League player not on the club's 40-man roster to the Orioles for Lopez. The Herald reported that the clubs would each pay about half the estimated $2.75 million remaining on Lopez's contract.

With their 7-6 loss to the Indians on Thursday night, the Red Sox are now 64-43 and one game back of the Yankees in the American League East.

At 35, Lopez is in the final season of a $22.5 million, three-year contract he signed as a free agent with the Orioles in December 2003. He got that deal after hitting .328 with 43 home runs and 109 RBIs for Atlanta, his third All-Star season for the Braves.

Lopez has been displeased with his lack of playing time in Baltimore behind Ramon Hernandez and said Monday that he would rather have been released if that trend continued.

"That would be a better option for me, since I didn't get traded," Lopez said. "I don't want to get released -- I'm just saying it would make more sense. The last thing I want to do here [Baltimore] is not even play.

"I cannot be happy in this situation. I cannot be happy. They probably have their plan, and I don't think they're going to keep me like this until the end of the season. They're probably going to do something, sooner or later. I'm not going to say anything -- I'm just going to let them do whatever they decide to do."

With Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek out after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday, the potential move would likely thrust Lopez into the starting role behind the plate in Boston. It would also likely send backup catcher Ken Huckaby to Triple-A Pawtucket after he was called up on Tuesday.

Lopez is batting .265 with eight home runs and 31 RBIs in 279 at-bats. He has caught in only 21 of the Orioles' 109 games as a backup to Hernandez.

Berry said Orioles executive vice president Mike Flanagan had been "very cooperative" in trying to accommodate Lopez.

"They want to make something work, if it can," he said.