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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Boston Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino said Friday that general manager Ben Cherington is "exploring" the team's options in what he called an "ongoing" issue with the Chicago Cubs regarding compensation for departed general manager Theo Epstein.

Lucchino, who was in attendance at Boston's exhibition game with the Minnesota Twins at Hammond Stadium, the Twins' spring park, made the comment in the aftermath of elbow surgery for pitcher Chris Carpenter, one of two players the Red Sox had received as compensation for Epstein.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- One of the two Cuban prospects the Chicago Cubs have been chasing is now in the fold as the club announced Sunday that a five-year major-league deal is in place with left-hander Gerardo Concepcion.

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The Chicago Cubs and right-hander Matt Garza are further apart on contract terms than was previously thought.

Initially, ESPNChicago.com and other outlets reported that Garza asked for $10.225 million in arbitration, while the Cubs countered at $7.95 million. That's a fairly large difference but not so great that the sides couldn't agree somewhere close to the middle before an arbitration hearing in February.

But Garza actually asked for $12.5 million, meaning that what was thought to be the highest number the pitcher could get ($10.225 million) is actually the midpoint.

Garza was 10-10 with a 3.32 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 31 starts last season for a struggling Cubs team and has been the subject of trade speculation this offseason. ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney hypothesizes that the uncertainty over what will happen in arbitration could be scaring off potential suitors.

The Chicago Cubs and catcher Geovany Soto agreed to a one-year deal for $4.3 million, avoiding arbitration.

The Cubs also agreed to one-year deals with Jeff Baker, Blake DeWitt, Ian Stewart, Chris Volstad and Randy Wells. Baker will earn $1,375,000, DeWitt $1,100,000, Stewart $2,237,500, Volstad $2,655,000 and Wells $2,705,000.

The signings leave Matt Garza as their only remaining player in arbitration. He asked for $12.5 million in arbitration and the Cubs countered at $7.95 million. Garza went 10-10 with a 3.32 ERA in his first season with Chicago.

Soto, who will be 29 on Friday, made $3 million in 2011 when he batted .228 with 17 home runs and 54 RBIs in 125 games, his most since 2008 when he played 141 and won the NL Rookie of the Year with a .285 batting average to go along with 23 home runs and 86 RBIs.

A career .258 hitter, Soto led all catchers with 13 errors in 2011.

Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said Saturday that he’d continue to be supportive of his front office if they thought moving a veteran player would be best for the team’s future.

“First of all, it’s really up to the baseball guys to decide who fits on the team,” Ricketts said at the Cubs Convention. “If there is a player they think doesn’t fit and they think it’s better for the team to move him, then I’ll support it 100%, even if that means eating some salary.”

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Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts acknowledged on Saturday that the front office could have handled the Kerry Wood signing in a more timely fashion.

The 34-year-old veteran pitcher told the media on Friday that he was 25 minutes away from going for a physical with another team, with which he had agreed to a deal in principle. That’s when the Cubs closed in and finished off the contract.

“I’m not sure why the timing ended up the way it did,” Ricketts said at the team’s annual convention. “We probably could have had that conversation a month ago. My gut would just say that [Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer] were focused on everything else that was going on. We probably could have done it a little sooner.”

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The Chicago Cubs and Kerry Wood have agreed to a one-year contract with a club option for 2013, the team announced Friday at the Cubs Convention, the club's annual fan festival.

The deal is worth $3 million, as is the club option.

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Although Alfonso Soriano said more than once last season that he likely wouldn’t try to block a trade if the Chicago Cubs attempted to deal him, he seems to have had a change of heart.

“They can do whatever they want,” Soriano said Friday at the Cubs Convention. “It has to be good for me and my family for me to agree [to a trade]. I’m comfortable with the Cubs.

“I won’t go to just any team. I want to be with a contender. I also want to be in the playoffs again. So I’d have to be comfortable with both the team and the city I get traded to.”

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Kerry Wood may not be back with the Chicago Cubs in 2012, as the two sides can’t agree on money or length of contract at this point, a major league source told ESPNChicago on Sunday night.

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The Chicago Cubs offered contracts to all of their players with the exception of catcher Koyie Hill.

The 32-year-old Hill hit .194 with two home runs and nine RBIs in his third complete season with the Cubs in 2011.

With Hill known as a top-flight defensive catcher, last season the Cubs looked beyond his .211 lifetime batting average, trusting him with handling the team’s pitching staff when starter Geovany Soto wasn’t in the lineup.

The Cubs have two young catchers, Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger, advancing toward the major leagues and therefore the team opted to let Hill, who made $850,000 in 2011, become a free agent rather than go to arbitration with him.

The Cubs have five other players who are arbitration eligible. Pitchers Matt Garza and Randy Wells, infielders Jeff Baker and Ian Stewart and Soto.

Stewart was acquired by the Cubs from the Colorado Rockies in a Dec. 9 trade.

If you believe what's being floated in other big-league cities, the Chicago Cubs may be ready to trade right-hander Matt Garza.

The 28-year-old is still under the Cubs' control for two more seasons and will be arbitration eligible in 2012 and '13 before approaching his free-agent year in 2014.

Although Garza won just 10 games in '11, it was a team high, and he was removed in six games where he had a lead in the late innings, only to see those leads result in no-decisions.

Garza averaged 8.95 strikeouts per nine innings, which was the seventh-best ratio in the NL.

The Cubs would want a package of four or five players in return for Garza. The Tampa Rays received five minor leaguers in January, 2011 in an eight-player trade.

The most prominent team that may be involved is the Texas Rangers. The AL champs could lose 16-game winner C.J. Wilson, who is looking for a six-year, $120 million deal as baseball's top left-handed free agent pitcher.

The Rangers had a four-player proposal on the table for Garza when the Cubs and Tampa consummated their trade.

Texas has an abundance of prospects they could dangle for Garza, including first baseman Mitch Moreland, who is an emerging left-handed power hitter.

Garza made $5.9 million in 2011 and should get between $8 million and $9 million through the arbitration process in 2012.

Although Garza does fit the mold of a young starting pitcher the Cubs are looking to have under contract, he may bring back the right package of pitchers and position players to get the Cubs rolling into 2013 and beyond.

The team still may be interested in Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish, who is contemplating whether to leave Japan for the U.S.

Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer watched free agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, a 26-year-old Cuban defector living in the Dominican Republic in a private workout last week.

Cespedes has at least five teams that requested private workouts, including the Marlins, Red Sox, Yankees and Tigers, according to a major league sources. Other teams also have shown interest.

The Chicago Cubs added four players to their 40-man roster on Friday: infielders Junior Lake and Josh Vitters from Double-A Tennessee, left-handed pitcher Jeff Beliveau from Tennessee and outfielder Matt Szczur from Single-A Daytona.

They also outrighted right-handed pitchers Esmailin Caridad and Kyle Smit and outfielder Lou Montanez off of the 40-man roster, which now stands at 34 players. Players on the 40-man roster are protected from the Dec. 8 Rule 5 draft.

Lake, a 21-year-old shortstop, had a strong 2011 Arizona Fall League season, batting .296 (34-for-115) with eight doubles, three triples, five home runs and 18 stolen bases in 28 games. Beliveau, 24, was named the Cubs 2011 Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

Szczur, 22, is listed as the third-best prospect in the Cubs system by “Baseball America” while Vitters, 22, is ranked ninth by the publication.

The Chicago Cubs have $58,500,000 coming off their 2011 payroll. How will president of baseball operations Theo Epstein divvy up his baseball budget in 2012?

A team’s baseball budget and baseball payroll are two different things. The Cubs will have around a $200 million budget in 2012, which represents the entire amount of money the Cubs will allocate for major league salaries, employee salaries, running the minor leagues, amateur draft signings and international free agent signings.

After saying all that, the Cubs major league payroll was at $131 million to start the 2011 campaign. The money coming off the books represents the contracts of Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Carlos Pena, John Grabow and Carlos Silva.

It’s unknown at this time as to how much money Epstein or general manager Jed Hoyer are willing to spend in free agency in order to make the 2012 team more competitive. Since taking over the team, Epstin has talked mostly about long-range goals in his “Cub way” of doing things.

The highest profile free agents on the market this offseason are Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and pitcher C.J. Wilson. The agents for Fielder and Wilson talked to the Cubs at this week’s GM Meetings in Milwaukee. But one major league source said they didn’t go into great detail in any of those conversations.

With the hiring of former Milwaukee hitting coach Dale Sveum as the new Cubs manager, Fielder’s name is in the news in Chicago. The Brewers free agent will be looking for a $200 million payday. Wilson, the top left-hander on the market, is shooting for $120 million.

“I think we are now in the mode of the offseason where we’re starting to look at players,” Hoyer said on Friday. “We had a lot of conversations with agents and a lot of conversations with teams [at the GM meetings]. But we are not close on anything.

“We know what we want. Now it’s a question of continuing some of those conversations to a conclusion.”

Hoyer wouldn’t speak about whether or not the Cubs have interest in Fielder, but said he’d help any club.

“He’s a great player,” Hoyer said. “He provides a ton of production and that goes without saying. Dale [Sveum] has great respect for him. As for whether we will be involved, we can’t comment. But I think he fits anyone’s team, especially anyone that needs a first baseman.”

While the Cubs are in need of impact players, Hoyer, along with Epstein, will personally go see Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes in the Dominican Republic on Monday. The Cubs top two executives and some scouts will have a private workout with the 26-year-old Cuban defector, who is now living in the Dominican Republic.

Cespedes agent, Adam Katz, describes Cespedes as as a five-tool player as well as an upstanding individual. The price tag for Cespedes may be five years and $40 million. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers will all have private workouts as well, and the Florida Marlins have already had one.

The Cubs may also throw their money toward the Japanese market and put in a bid for right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish. The 25-year-old right-handed star pitcher may leave Japan, but getting a Japanese player away from his original team is a complicated issue.

The system is called “posting”. Darvish’s present team in Japan, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, will take sealed bids to buy his services from their team. The highest bid gets the opportunity to negotiate a contract with the player. As an example, in 2006, the Red Sox’s blind bid of $51 million to speak with Daisuke Matsuzaka went to Matsuzaka’s team, the Seibu Lions. Boston then worked out a $50 million deal with Matsuzaka and his agent. If the highest bidding team can not work out a deal with the player, then the posting money is returned to it.

The Cubs, like numerous other teams, are interested in Darvish, who is 6-5 and of Iranian and Japanese descent. Baseball scouts compare Darvish to former Yankees and Mets starter David Cone at a similar point in their careers. According to two scouts, Darvish would go right into a major league team’s rotation and be considered a No. 1 or 2 starter depending on the depth in that team’s rotation.

Some of the Cubs’ roster changes will begin to take place between Thanksgiving and the Winter Meetings on Dec. 5 in Dallas. The Cubs need corner infielders, a run-producing outfielder and at least two starting pitchers in 2012.

“It’s still early,” Hoyer said. "But once we get to the Winter Meetings past the Thanksgiving break, things start to happen quickly.”

The Cubs have their All-Star front office and their new manager. Now all they need are some players.

MILWAUKEE – Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein met face-to-face with Carlos Zambrano on Monday afternoon and said the starter will get a chance to return to the team in 2012.

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At first take, the Chicago Cubs should be elated that Ryan Dempster chose to pick up his $14 million option for 2012.

Looking at Dempster’s 2011 season, you might not think that a 10-14 record with a 4.80 ERA warrants that big of a deal. But looking at his contract objectively, Dempster certainly earned the 2012 option.

The Cubs right-hander put in four solid years of answering the bell when his spot in the rotation came up, pitching more than 200 innings in each of those seasons. That accomplishment alone might be satisfactory for most teams, however the British Columbia native brings so much more as a leader, teammate and human being.

Dempster and his wife Jenny have raised millions of dollars for research into a cure for DiGeorge Syndrome, a disease that affects their oldest daughter and the affable Canadian has time for everyone else’s charity events as well.

Pitchers are seldom team leaders but Dempster’s ability to communicate and show appreciation for his teammates transcends the fact that he only pitches in 35 games a year.

Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd is among Dempster’s fans.

“Dempster’s a bulldog,” Byrd said Saturday on ESPN 1000’s “Talkin’ Baseball.” “He’s a guy that, when he’s on the mound, you always know you have a chance to win. And he’s going to go out there and give you everything he has.”

With only Matt Garza penciled in as a starter in 2012, Dempster’s return will soften the workload for incoming president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer as they pursue some good young starting pitching to add to the mix on a team that had the worst ERA in the National League last season.

Dempster has been a consummate team guy, posting a record of 58-44 as a starter after saving 87 games in three years as the team’s closer from 2005-07.

Dempster is on record that he’d like to sit down and talk to Epstein and Hoyer about his future in the weeks ahead. That’s good news for them, as well as for the Cubs fan base, which has grown to appreciate Dempster as one of their own.