The clock is ticking

The worst kept secret in baseball was finally made public today as the Boston Red Sox were awarded the right to negotiate with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka after agreeing to pay the Seibu Lions (Matsuzaka's current team) a king's ransom of $51.1 million. Now, the money will only go to Seibu if Matsuzaka signs, but his contract demands, thanks to the notoriously stubborn Scott Boras, will be through the roof and the Sox only have 30 days to complete a deal. It's quite possible that by the end of this, the Sox will have paid Matsuzaka over $100 million. That's pretty good considering that the 26-year-old has no Major League experience whatsoever.

Now you ask what's the new media part of this post? Boston.com made a big deal about this historic moment of giving cash away and would like to remind all Sox fans that Boston is on the clock.

Update: Wednesday, Boston.com has added a clip from YouTube to further introduce Red Sox fans to the Japanese wonder.