Theo Compensation: Chris Carpenter...

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Misleading headlines are fun, aren't they? According to multiple Twitterings from Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald out of Chicago, the Cubs and Red Sox have settled the matter of compensation for Theo Epstein between themselves (read: without the help of Uncle Bud.)

Chicago will send minor-league pitcher Chris Carpenter (obviously not that Chris Carpenter) and the ever-infamous player to be named later (which generally never really amounts to anything at all) to the Red Sox for Theo and a PTBNL (to be decided by April 15th). The teams and league had to keep things on the up and up and since this was a baseball trade in the end, the PTBNLs had to be included.

Miles also tweets that Carpenter is a "Hard thrower, can hit 100. Potential closer down the line."

This seems to be a fair deal for all involved, especially since Baseball America has Carpenter listed as the 13th best prospect in the Cubs system (down from no. 6 in 2011). Hopefully he can can turn into a solid 8th inning guy within a year or two and provide some support for Bailey.