Just how profitable will the Red Sox signing of Matsuzaka be? Hard to say, but it’s a safe bet they will recoup their $51 million, and then some. The fact that he will wear number 18 doesn’t hurt the marketing effort. So many of the previous number 18 jerseys are at the bottom of people’s shredders or have been reduced to a pile of ashes in their backyards. But what about the rest of the capitalists out there?

Funny you should ask. While scouring eBay yesterday to purchase a Jesus action figure for a friend, I happened upon some of the early Dice-K creations available.


Feh. Doesn’t really do it for me.

OK. The dice, the K, the number 18, not bad.

Simple, straight to the point. Boring.

Another variation on the dice and the K. Trust me, you’ll be sick of this by June.

As we get closer to spring training, there are sure to be more designs out there. My advice? Wait it out. Do you really need a t-shirt now? There will be the Matsuzaka t-shirt that will be a must have. But where will you get it? When will it be here? Stick around, folks. Red and Denton are on the case. Patience.