Green light  —  For $51m, Sox get go-ahead on Matsuzaka  —  NAPLES, Fla. — What did the Red Sox accomplish in outbidding the Yankees and Mets, among others, for the rights to negotiate with Japanese ace Daisuke Matsuzaka?  —  "If they can sign him, they've got the best pitcher in the market …

A relief effort: Theo talks to Houston in search of bullpen help  —  NAPLES, Fla. - The Red Sox met with the Houston Astros yesterday, and it was believed that obtaining relief help via a trade was high on their agenda.  —  Houston closer Brad Lidge, as well as relievers Brad Qualls and Dan Wheeler …

Baseball's mad new world  —  NAPLES, Fla. - To neatly summarize baseball's new era: The Boston Red Sox are willing to pay $51.1 million merely for the right to negotiate with Scott Boras.  —  Such talks have, in the past, made fools of rich men, turned dark hair gray and sent systolic and diastolic pressures to unhealthy levels.

Fact plus fiction, it's a great story  —  First of all, let's drop all talk of the "gyroball," the wonder pitch Daisuke Matsuzaka is said to throw.  —  He doesn't.  No pro, here or in Japan, has been documented as throwing one.  It's appeared only in anime, Japanese animation.

Mets appear bit gun-shy  —  Slow to overpay  —  NAPLES, Fla. - Although by virtue of their $38 million posting bid the Mets clearly viewed Daisuke Matsuzaka as a No. 1-type starter, they now appear prepared to go to Plan B for their rotation next year and that is "strength in numbers."

Mets Retain Father Figure and Ignore Father Time  —  The Mets are investing $12 million through 2008 in a pitcher many believe to be 41 years old.  But for them, 40 is the new 30.  With Tom Glavine still expected to be re-signed, the Mets locked up Orlando Hernández on Tuesday in a deal teetering between risky and creative.