Left-hander Felix Doubront is likely to make his big league debut for the Red Sox on Friday. (DVM Sports, courtest Portland Sea Dogs)

The decision isn’t final, but in all likelihood, the big league unveiling of Red Sox pitching prospect Felix Doubront will take place on Friday.

The 22-year-old, according to a team source, is the front-runner to be brought up to Boston from Triple-A Pawtucket to make a spot start in place of right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, who went on the 15-day disabled list just prior to the start of Saturday’s game with a strained forearm. Doubront was activated by the PawSox on Tuesday, following a brief spell on the seven-day D.L. with a shin contusion.

Doubront has positioned himself for a callup with a dominant performance thus far in 2009. He started the year back in Double-A Portland, where he forged a 4-0 record with a 2.51 ERA, and then proved even more effective with Triple-A Pawtucket, where he went 2-1 with a 1.08 ERA in four starts. Between those two stops, he has struck out 54 and walked 22 in 59 2/3 innings.

“Doubie’s been lights out, man,” said Sox outfielder Daniel Nava, who was in Pawtucket for all four of Doubront’s starts. “I’m really impressed with him. Obviously, he’s got good stuff and an idea of what to do with that, but his poise on the mound is something that, when you play behind him, he exudes a quiet confidence.”

That trait was particularly evident in Doubront’s last outing, against Reds top pitching prospect Aroldis Chapman, the heralded pitcher with a 101 mph fastball who signed out of Cuba this winter for more than $30 million. Doubront allowed one run on five hits in five innings, and struck out five. The PawSox, on a day when Chapman apparently did not have his best stuff, jumped on the Reds’ prize hurler for seven runs in the first two innings.

“When we went out and [Doubront] faced Chapman in Louisville, their stud lefty vs. our stud lefty, he rose up to that challenge,” said Nava. “That was something that made us all just say, ‘We would love to have you on the bump against anybody.’”

It was the same poise that Doubront exhibited in 2009, when he pitched at Fenway Park for Portland in a Futures at Fenway contest. That day, Doubront logged four scoreless innings before tiring in the fifth, when he gave up a two-run homer in a no-decision. Still, with seven punchouts that day, the left-hander offered an indication of his ability to embrace a spotlight start.

“With pressure, I think he thrives on it. He seems to be ready. He’s young, but he handles himself very well,” said Sox reliever Dustin Richardson, who pitched with Doubront at three stops, in 2007 with Single-A Greenville, in 2009 with Portland and this year with Pawtucket. “That’s what you want from a starter – a guy with three pitches who seems like he’s going deep in games pretty consistently. He’s doing well right now. I can definitely see him coming up and helping the team.”

The Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes concluded on Sunday, as multiple reports have established that the Reds will sign the Cuban left-hander to a five-year, $25 million deal that will include a club option for a sixth season. The Cuban was widely scouted as having electric stuff — an easy conclusion to draw given that his fastball registered in excess of 100 mph when he pitched at the World Baseball Classic — and as a result, the interest in the 22-year-old was widespread.

The Sox, according to a major-league source, made a concerted effort to acquire Chapman earlier this winter. The team made an offer to him in November (first reported by ESPN.com at $15.5 million — more than the record-breaking sum that No. 1 overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg received when he signed with the Nationals).

But shortly after the Sox made that offer, Chapman changed agents, from Edwin Mejia to Hendricks Sports Management. The Sox pulled their offer when Chapman changed agents, and though the club sent an evaluator to watch the pitcher at a workout in Houston in mid-December, it never made another formal offer, according to the source.

While Boston recognized Chapman’s significant potential, the team also viewed him as a very high-risk investment. As such, given that the team had some questions about the pitcher’s makeup, arm action and aptitude — a relevant concern, since multiple major-league talent evaluators suggested that Chapman may be best suited to make his professional debut in the U.S. in High-A ball, and would require significant development in order to reach the majors — the Sox did not re-engage significantly in the bidding for the Cuban defector once it became clear that other clubs were going to offer far more than what Boston believed to be the pitcher’s value point.

For a scouting report on Chapman, click here.

Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman could be the most sought-after free agent of this offseason. (AP)

It is entirely possible that the most pitched battle of the offseason begins anew today in Houston.

Cuban left-hander Aroldis Chapman is scheduled to have a workout in front of talent evaluators, including the Red Sox, Yankees and numerous other clubs from all market sizes (the A’s and Marlins, for example, are both reportedly interested). The 21-year-old is an international free agent whose door will be wide open to eight-figure bids.

Based on conversations with a handful of talent evaluators who have seen Chapman pitch in international competitions (most recently, last spring’s World Baseball Classic), the left-hander is described as possessing the sort of electric arm that leaves evaluators drooling. His fastball registered as high as 102 mph in the WBC, and he has shown the potential for a sharp, nasty slider.

That said, while Chapman comes with a big arm, he also comes with what the evaluators described as “a lot of risk” (a phrase that was connected to Chapman a few times). The last time that he was seen by many scouts was in the WBC last March. He’s considered fairly raw, and lost development time since he has not been tied to organized baseball since his defection early last July.

Though he showed incredible stuff in the WBC, he had an unimpressive 5.68 ERA in the tournament, walking four and striking out eight in his 6.1 innings spanning two games. Evaluators frowned that the southpaw yelled at teammates and umpires during the tournament, raising questions about his makeup and maturity (with the caveat that, at 21, he is quite young).

There is no denying the raw talent of Chapman. His ceiling is almost certainly that of a No. 1 starter. That said, the notion that he is a left-handed version of Stephen Strasburg – the No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 draft who throws 100 with a hammer curve – may have been exaggerated.

All the same, because Chapman is a free agent, the bidding for his services promises to be intense. Sources at the Winter Meetings suggested that, since the pitcher changed representation from Edwin Mejia to the Hendricks Brothers last month, talk of a $40-60 million bonus has quieted. The new agents tabled murmurs about what the left-hander would seek, holding off on such notions until today’s workout. Even so, multiple evaluators believe that the contract that Strasburg got from the Nationals – a major-league deal for $15.1 million – will be used as a benchmark by Chapman.

Of course, given the report by ESPN’s Jorge Arangure that the Red Sox offered Chapman $15.5 million to sign when they met with the pitcher in November, it would appear all but certain that the 21-year-old will accomplish that goal.

Barring an injury, the question is not whether he will exceed Strasburg money. The issue is how far beyond that figure the bidding for his services will go.

That said, despite Chapman’s considerable gifts, evaluators were unanimous that he should not be regarded as being in the same class as Strasburg. Whereas Strasburg was viewed as virtually major-league ready at the time he was drafted, Chapman is described as requiring significant development before he would be major-league ready, particularly given the amount of time that he has had off.

And, while it will be tempting for teams to pour significant money into acquiring a pitcher with such incredible velocity, there are plenty of cautionary tales about hurlers who hit triple digits early in their careers before seeing their velocity plummet due to subsequent injuries.

One need look no further than Maels Rodriguez, believed to be the first Cuban pitcher to be clocked at more than 100 miles per hour earlier this decade. Rodriguez was a dominant force in Cuba by the time he turned 20, but injuries wrecked his career and velocity by the time he defected in 2003. He was drafted by Arizona in the 22nd round in 2005, but never played in the minors.

Rodriguez, however, was injured by the time he came to the States. Chapman does not come with any health-related red flags. Today, if he can offer a reminder in Houston of his unique combination of gifts – a 6-foot-4 left-hander who is 21 and throws over 100 miles an hour – Chapman will find a long line of teams bidding huge sums for his services.

MASN’s Roch Kubatko is reporting that the Orioles will meet with the representatives for Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman this week.

Giving more of a backbone to what was initially reported by Ken Rosenthal, Buster Olney is reporting that the Padres are “not expected to tender” starter Kevin Correia a contract. Correia went 12-11 with a 3.91 ERA for the Padres in 2009.

Edwin Jackson is as good as gone from Detroit, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The tweet says that is “close” to trading Jackson and that a deal could be done “as early as today,” though he doesn’t say where the 26-year-old might be headed. Nightengale also notes that Tigers are still hopeful that they will move Curtis Granderson this week.

CHICAGO — Executives are in meetings all morning here at the O’Hare International Airport Hilton, leaving me in a desolate work room with just my computer and a free 10 oz Diet Pepsi that would have cost me $4 upstairs (no lie).

The schedule will allow for access to all the general managers starting at 4:30 p.m. EST, which will surely spawn a flurry of Tweets and the like starting about 5:30 p.m.

One thing I forgot to pass on Monday was that in my conversation with Tim Wakefield, he passed along what a difference the surgery on his back had meant. He said that the limp which he had been saddled with for the past few months was instantly gone once he could get out of his hospital bed.

“I feel great” Wakefield said. “I’m getting more strength in my calf and my hamstring. As a matter of fact, the doctor came in soon after surgery and I was doing laps around the nurses station with my wife with my IV without limping. It was that instantaneously.

“Dr. (Lawrence) Borges did a phenomenal job. He even said to me that he was surprised that I was pitching because the fragment they took out of my back was pretty big.”

I did run into one National League executive who was toying with the idea of watching Cuban free agent pitcher Aroldis Chapman in the Dominican Republic. (He is reportedly in Costa Rica right now. Ed. Note: Chapman’s representatives clarified that the pitcher is currently in the United States, and has no plans to pitch in the Dominican.) The executive reiterated that while the talent for Chapman was off the charts (95-102 mph fastball), there was some growing concern regarding his make-up, which is not the norm for pitchers coming over from Cuba.

If you remember, one of the selling points for Jose Contreras when the Yankees and Red Sox were going toe-to-toe for the pitcher’s services was that he had pitched in the most pressure-packed of environments under the watchful eye of Fidel Castro and the Cuban government.

The 21-year-old Chapman, who will make a boatload of money from somebody (although maybe not as much as he is asking for), is perceived as somewhat immature, a notion that wasn’t displaced after a drama-filled World Baseball Classic outing. Unlike Contreras, there are conflicting reports whether the lefty flamethrower is even ready to begin his career in the big leagues.

All the concerns aside, with his upside, and the dearth of free agent pitching, Chapman figures to be one of the offseason’s biggest prizes and elicit some more good lobby talk as the meetings march along.

Be back later once access picks up …