Theo Compensation: Chris Carpenter...

Photo by J. Daniel/Getty Images

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.

Compensation For Theo

It's Groundhog day. So in the spirit of Bill Murray, it's time to review things again and again and again. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Theo Epstein compensation saga!


Listen, Matt Garza is not coming to Boston, and never was. So who, or what, is? The precedent for these things isn't exactly promising, as Baseball Nation's Al Yellon points out:


"In 1994, when the Cubs hired Twins executive Andy MacPhail as their general manager, they sent minor-league pitcher Hector Trinidad — a top prospect at the time — as compensation. Trinidad never pitched in the major leagues."


So the Cubs are the one's stealing everyone's women! I never did trust that little blue bumbling bear. But in a baseball sense, the likelihood that Boston ends up with anything of significance out of this entire process is extremely small. 


Peter Gammons tweeted yesterday that Uncle Bud Selig is still waiting on "written arguments in Cubs-Red Sox compensation case," but the hall of fame writer expects Chicago to send over "an A level prospect." Whom shall that prospect-to-be named eventually be? I won't pretend to have any insight into Uncle Bud's mind, but here's a list of the Cubs' top-20 prospects of 2012 for those of you who are interested.


Here's a list of homegrown Cubs that have done much of anything in the last 20 years: Starlin Castro, Kerry Wood, and Harry Caray's corpse. That's it. Three.


In any case, after a tumultuous but ultimately lackluster offseason, comedian Jim Norton summed up the situation nicely earlier this morning on Twitter: "It's Groundhog Day! Punxsutawney Phil poked his head out and saw the business end of a shotgun."


I simply wonder if there's any room in front of those barrels for a worn out Red Sox fan.

Theo Epstein, Cubs GM

Thanks to an ESPN report yesterday, Boston talk TV and radio is all 'a-twitter about Theo Epstein jumping ship for the vacant Chicago Cubs GM job, following the firing of the hated Jim Hendry. There are many opinions on this subject, and since baseball makes me flashback to my childhood days, I'd like to collect those views here for you in summary, book report style. Here goes:

The argument for?
-Everyone likes a challenge. Things have gone so smoothly since 2004, when he shipped out Nomar Garciaparra (to the Cubs no less) en route to the World Series title, there's been a hole burning inside little Theo. What better place to move to than the Windy City, a town that is home to the perfect cork for the hole in Epstein's heart--Carlos Zambrano? His first move in Chicago can be to butt heads with the fire-breathing anger monster and set his roster straight. Make a big splash. Then face down the dead contract that is Aramis Ramirez.

-The would have to pay him "F-you" money to jump from Boston, which Epstein would probably enjoy. Everyone likes money. He'd probably get a sweeter deal than he ever dreamed of by going to Chicago. Then again, John Henry would likely top any bid and keep his Golden Boy--and with good reason. Not only is he good at general-managering, there's a school of thought that a good chunk of the front office would go with Theo if he left (Ben Cherington promoted from within to GM?).

-Sure, he's a graduate of Brookline High School, but he's already become a legend in the New England area--you know, 1918 and all that--why not go to the Cubs and become the man who broke both the Curse of the Bambino and the Curse of the Billy Goat? Hot damn.

...And Against?
-It's the Cubs.