The $52 Million Man

Daisuke Matuzaka has 52 million reasons to smile and he knows it.

*UPDATE* 11:26PM
ESPNNews has just reported that Matsuzaka has passed his physical, this comes about 30 minutes after Scott Boras confirmed the deal to ESPN.com. A complete rap on the story in the morning.

Midflight from Orange County, California to Bedford, Massachusetts, Scott Boras and Theo Epstein finalized a deal that would pay Matsuzaka $52 million over the next 6 seasons, theres oportunity for an additional $8 in incentives.

Upon arriving at Laurence G Hanscom Airforce Base in John Henry's private jet this evening, Matsuzaka, Boras, Epstein and company were loaded into a motorcade with a police escort to head to Massachusetts General Hospital so Matsuzaka's physical could be performed to finalize the deal that needs to be completed by midnight tomorrow.

On Monday, the plane carrying Epstein and Luccino was deverted from its original flight plan that had it going to William P Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas according to flight records from flightaware.com. The plane then headed to John Wayne Airport in Orance County.

Theres no explanation for the original course being Houston other then Boston having thought there was no way to geta Matsuzaka deal done and they were planning a meeting with Clemens, its possible then word got to them that a deal could still happen and they diverted the plane to meet in person with Boras and Matsuzaka.