The Red Sox are preparing an initial offer for center fielder Johnny Damon. The pursuit of Damon, who is just as much a face of the franchise as AL MVP runner-up David Ortiz, is sure to be one of the more hotly contested chases of this offseason. The Sox met with Damon?s agent, Scott Boras, last week in Indian Wells, Calif., and they have been working on an opening bid ever since. The Yankees so far have shown little interest in filling their center field void with a free agent, but that doesn?t mean they won?t be factors in the Damon race. At the very least, the Yanks can be expected to fake interest in Damon just to drive up his price. George Steinbrenner met with Pedro Martinez last year, and a similar scenario with Damon would not be a surprise.