Takashi Saito will wear number 24 for the Red Sox in 2009. Rob Bradford reports that Saito checked in with the unemployed outfielder for the go-ahead to wear 24:

The former Dodgers hurler called Ramirez in early January, through a translator, to ask if it would be OK to take the number. “Manny said, ‘Twenty-four here and No. 99 in LA are lucky numbers so you’re welcome to have it’,” said Saito through translator Masa Hoshino.

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