I had originally planned to post my list which included the signing of Japanese star Daisuke Matsuzaka.

It looks as though, one of my gifts is on his way to Boston. Boston.com reports that notorious superagent Scott Boras, D-Mat (a catchy little nickname, which beats the heck out of Dice-K), Theo and Larry Luccino were headed east.

The site also reports that a news conference is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. to officially announce the signing of Julio Lugo. I suspect the subject of D-Mat is sure to come up - if only to officially say that he has arrived to Boston.

Stay tuned.

The Sox are also in another fight - this one involves acquiring lefty closer mike Gonzalez from the Pirates. They have some competition with, of course, the Yankees.

While the Sox see him as a closer, the Yankees see him as the perfect setup man to Mariano Rivera, or so says the New York Post.

So it really will come down to who has the better package. The Sox apparently are putting Crisp on the table, which may not be enough.

And I'm sure most of you have already heard that clubhouse favorite Gabe Kapler has got a new gig. He is now a Single A manager for the Greenville, S.C. affiliate.

This is pretty surprising. I knew the Sox liked this guy, but obviously I didn't know how much. His resume isn't that lengthy and I'm interested to see how he does. I like his approach to the game and he's still young enough to connect with the players. But manager? I'm blown away.

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