Time is winding down on the Sox' exclusive bargaining period with Mike Lowell.  

It doesn't mean Lowell is 100 percent gone if the sides can't reach an agreement in the next few hours, but it certainly gives Lowell and the Sox a chance to seek a free-agent deal with another team and/or player.

Both sides know the approximate market. If they haven't had a meeting of the minds yet, I imagine they won't be able to once the four- and five-year offers start rolling in.

I still have a faint hope that this diary will be obsolete by the time I hit publish, or that I'll wake up tomorrow and read about a new contract. But I'm trying to get used to the idea of a new third baseman.