FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Japanese media, the usual media and the fans who have escaped the frigid Northeast will not have to wait long for their first glimpse of Daisuke Matsuzaka throwing off the mound in a Red Sox uniform.

Today, during the team’s first official pitchers-and-catchers workout, the expensive 26-year-old right-hander will be in one of the groups that will have a throwing session off one of the bullpen mounds.

The Red Sox have cut the number of pitchers in half for throwing purposes. Half of the pitchers will throw today, the others will have their first spring session tomorrow.

Dice-K, for whom the Sox paid $103.1 million in posting fees and salary to affect his move from the Seibu Lions of the Japanese League to Boston, will be in a group that includes fellow starters Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon and Tim Wakefield as well as his fellow Japanese import, Hideki Okajima, a left-handed reliever, for the pitcher’s fielding drills.

Pitching overview

Manager Terry Francona, pitching coach John Farrell and general manager Theo Epstein had meetings with each pitcher to explain the overall pitching staff goals for the spring as well as to talk about individual goals.

Each pitcher also was able to ask questions about his role or the plans the Sox have for him.

The idea was Farrell’s, who has replaced Dave Wallace, and Francona was happy with the sessions.

"It was a great idea," said Francona. "I got something out of it. It was very worthwhile."

Francona said he is planning to have similar meetings with the position players, who are scheduled to report Tuesday, have physicals on Wednesday and engage in a full-squad workout on Thursday.

Caution with Lester

Jon Lester, who was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma last August, is cancer-free and had his last chemotherapy round on Dec. 21.

The 23-year-old left-hander, a hot prospect who went 7-2 last year as a rookie, had one of those meetings with Francona, Farrell and Epstein. While Lester has regained weight and is working on his stamina and has looked good in unofficial workouts, the Sox are going to proceed carefully with Lester, he was told.

"He will be mainstreamed with the rest of the pitchers," said Francona. "With Jon it’s not his health, but how he bounces back. We are thrilled on a personal front to have him here. His perseverence is a lesson for all of us. We recognize what he has been through, and we’re not going to penalize him for his hard work (trying to get ready on time), but we’re going to monitor him closely."

The good soldier

Jason Varitek, the team’s starting catcher and captain, will once again be going through a getting-to-know-you process with the new pitchers in camp. Complicating that a bit is the arrival of the two Japanese pitchers.

Varitek said he has not attempted to learn Japanese yet.

"If I have to, I will," said Varitek. "I will do whatever’s going to help them feel more comfortable and will allow them to pitch their game is all that matters. I need to be able to see all the new pitchers throw to see how their ball moves, and talk to them to build trust and learn about them all as people so they can play better."

Varitek’s locker mates in the minor-league clubhouse are Matsuzaka and Joel Pineiro, a new pitcher expected to be in the running for the closer’s job, which should help the communication and trust-building factors of the pitcher-catcher relationship with those two right-handers.

Hansen wins competition

Craig Hansen is one-up on his teammates already this spring.

The right-hander, who was the team’s first-round draft pick in 2005 and hailed as the closer-in-waiting, captured the Professional Baseball Gaming League championship on Super Bowl weekend in Miami.

The PBGL is run by ex-Sox star and now Yankee center fielder Johnny Damon. The finalists were Seth McClung, Josh Barfield, Prince Fielder, Damon and Steve Robison, a soldier who was wounded in Iraq. Hansen beat Robison in the finals and said the other day that he would be making a donation from his winnings to Damon’s Wounded Warriors Project, to benefit injured veterans.

Hansen won a gold bracelet worth about $20,000. The final competition featured Gran Prix-style cars, with the finalists chosen from standings of their online competitions over the course of the offseason league schedule.

"It was a lot of fun," said Hansen.

skrasner@projo.com