The Red Sox will hold a Fenway Park press conference at 5 p.m. ET to announce the signing of Daisuke Matsuzaka to a six-year contract reportedly worth as much as $60 million.!!! Sox set to unveil Matsuzaka Club will introduce Japanese right-hander Thursday afternoon BOSTON -- The month-long odyssey of wooing Daisuke Matsuzaka finally complete, the Red Sox will unveil the Japanese right-hander at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday in what should be one of the most crowded press conferences in team history. It will be a joyous event for the Red Sox, who will formally announce that they have signed the Most Valuable Player of last March's World Baseball Classic to a six-year contract. Though terms of the deal were not disclosed, multiple reports have stated it is worth $52 million, with escalator clauses that could bring it to $60 million. The Red Sox won exclusive negotiating rights to Matsuzaka when their blind -- and record-setting -- bid of $51.1 million was accepted by the Seibu Lions on Nov. 14. Matsuzaka has been the talk of Boston -- not to mention Japan -- over the last month, and now he gets his official coronation. "This is definitely exciting," said Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. "It is a move that can possibly put our rotation at another level. I am sure the local and international media will have a feeding frenzy in Spring Training." It was a dramatic scene when Matsuzaka flew from California on Sox owner John W. Henry's private jet on Wednesday with Sox general manager Theo Epstein, club president/CEO Larry Lucchino and agent Scott Boras. A group of approximately 50 Red Sox fans greeted Matsuzaka when he touched down at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Mass. The media contingent was probably closer to 75. Once Matsuzaka passed his physical at Massachusetts General Hospital on Wednesday night, his contract was virtually finished. Now, all of Red Sox Nation braces for the arrival of a Japanese icon and wonders if his success will transfer to the hitting-heavy American League. Matsuzaka is not just good, but he is also still young. The 26-year-old posted a 108-60 record with a 2.95 ERA during an eight-year career with the Seibu Lions. Complete coverage > The Red Sox hope that the depth and quality of their starting rotation will be their biggest strength in 2007. Matsuzaka joins a rotation that already has Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield. Also, with left-hander Jon Lester now cancer-free, he will enter the mix, too, though no timetable has been set for his return to the mound. Manager Terry Francona is looking forward to watching Matsuzaka go to work. "He's got a lot of pitches that he commands," Francona said last week at the Winter Meetings. "He's got velocity on the fastball, he's got two breaking balls, he can elevate the fastball, but I think the thing that I've noticed that I like the best is the ability to throw a changeup any time it counts. It is kind of an old-fashioned screwball, which you don't see too much anymore. That pitch, to me, is legitimate." http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mediacenter/index.jsp#20061027 -- 永保赤子之心! SO. LET US BE OURSELVES! --

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