ESPN

The Chicago Cubs acquired minor league left-handed pitcher Hunter Cervenka from the Boston Red Sox to complete the Marlon Byrd trade from April 21.

The 22-year-old Cervenka is 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings in nine relief appearances for Single-A Greenville this season. He was a 27th-round draft pick of the Red Sox in the 2008 draft out of Baytown, Texas.

The Cubs also acquired reliever Michael Bowden in the deal for Byrd.

BOSTON -- The Red Sox have signed former star pitcher Mark Prior to a minor league deal.

Read the full story.

CHICAGO -- After being traded to the Boston Red Sox last weekend, former Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd returned to Chicago to start a four-game series with the White Sox.

Byrd, who was traded for pitcher Michael Bowden and a minor league player to be named, had only nice things to say about the Cub management team that dealt him.

“I knew I was going to be traded,” said Byrd, whose $6.5 million contract will be paid almost entirely by the Cubs, according to a major league source. “Brett Jackson is the future there, but I didn’t know when. I didn’t think it would be in April, but there was a need for me over here. I almost had to apologize to them for starting so slow. They should have been able to get more for me.”

Byrd, who was hitting just .070 for the Cubs, has had a good start with Boston, batting .308 in his first three games. The Red Sox are 3-0 with Byrd.

Though he is happy to be with a team that likely will be a contender this season, Byrd will miss being a Cub.

(Read full post)

The deal that sent Marlon Byrd to the Red Sox for Michael Bowden and a player to be named later on Saturday is first stage of the Cubs’ overall plan to get younger -- and more athletic -- moving forward.

General manager Jed Hoyer said Saturday that the discussions about dealing Byrd had been on-going for months. Numerous clubs -- including the Nationals, Braves and Red Sox -- had inquired about the veteran outfielder. Boston hopped into the talks at the end of spring training. Conversations became more intense when Boston lost Carl Crawford and later Jacoby Ellsbury to injuries.

The Cubs, according to a major league source, will pay off a significant amount of Byrd’s $6.5 million 2012 salary.

Bowden a native of Aurora, Ill., was drafted by the current Cub front office when president Theo Epstein and Hoyer worked as a unit in Boston in 2005. Bowden will work out of the bullpen when he joins the team on Monday. The Cubs have also been given a list of young pitchers by the Red Sox that they will scout. At some point in May, they will choose one pitcher to complete the trade.

Although this move, in essence, starts the process of moving out a veteran to make room for the star players in the organization’s minor league system, don’t look for Brett Jackson to be on the North Side too soon. (I touched on this topic earlier on Saturday.)

“He is playing hard in the minor leagues,” Hoyer said of Jackson. “This is still early in his Triple-A career, and he still has work to do.”

Hoyer didn’t say that Jackson would spend the entire season at Iowa. Baring injuries on the major league roster, however, it’s safe to assume the 23-year-old outfielder will stay in the minors until the All-Star Break.

Look for the new front office to keep moving veterans throughout the 2012 campaign as the names and numbers continue to change at Clark and Addison.

The compensation discussions between the Red Sox and Cubs -- stemming from Theo Epstein taking the president of baseball operations position in Chicago while he was still under contract in Boston – have
been a farce from the outset.

First and foremost, Larry Lucchino, Boston’s president and CEO, could not wait to fire manager Terry Francona and see Epstein move on after the epic melt down that cost Boston a playoff berth on the final day of the 2011 season. Francona quit, after a no-confidence message was delivered to him by ownership. Epstein, who had locked horns with Lucchino for years, still had one year remaining on his contract as the Red Sox’s GM.

As much as Epstein leaving Boston for Chicago was a home run for the North Siders, the Cubs made one vital error; they did not understand Boston wanted a lot more for their former executive than a prospect and a few dollars.

We now have advanced five months down the road with the two teams still fighting each other on the issue. The latest problem centers on an injury to pitching prospect Chris Carpenter. The centerpiece of the compensation package sent to Boston, Carpenter had surgery to remove a bone spur from his throwing elbow on Thursday.

When asked if he believed the Cubs knew of Carpenter’s arm issues, Luccino told reporters, "I'm not going to comment on it. We assume everyone acted in good faith."

That’s not to say Luccino is finally putting the issue to rest. He also told reporters in Red Sox camp that GM Ben Cherington is “exploring” Boston’s options and called the situation “on-going.”

Nothing about Carpenter should have been a mystery to the Red Sox.

The organization scouted all of his outings in the Arizona Fall League. The Red Sox looked at all the medicals on the pitcher going back to November. They also looked at his talent, having seen him average 100 mph when he did pitch.

It is true that Carpenter’s history of arm issues predates his move to Boston. He had a forearm strain that landed him on the DL last summer. It is also true that elbow issues are almost always connected to forearm strains. That being the case, it is even more obvious that the Red Sox knew what they were getting.

It is time, once and for all, for Bud Selig to put an end to this nonsense. Selig should have the Cubs write a small check and be done with it forever. Compensation of a player for a front-office person never has made sense.

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.

Read the entire story.

MESA, Ariz. -- The Chicago Cubs sent minor-league pitcher Aaron Kurcz to the Boston Red Sox on Thursday as the player to be named later in order complete their obligations in the Theo Epstein compensation situation.

Read the full story.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Red Sox majority owner John W. Henry contended Saturday that a "misunderstanding" between he and Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts in their first conversation led to the months-long negotiations to determine compensation for Theo Epstein.

Read the entire story.

The fact that it took almost four months to agree on compensation for Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein shows a general disconnect between the Boston Red Sox and Cubs.

Larry Lucchino, the very bright and overbearing Red Sox president and CEO, wanted a big-time player in return for an executive he no longer wanted. On Tuesday, the clubs agreed on 26-year-old relief pitcher Chris Carpenter along with players to be named from each team by April 15.

The Red Sox could have had this deal done in late November when the teams were discussing compensation at that point. Only the stubbornness of Lucchino prevented Carpenter from going to Boston then, according to major league sources.

The Cubs messed up by not getting Lucchino’s approval on compensation before they named Epstein the new president on Oct. 21. The Lucchino-Epstein power struggle has been going on for years with Lucchino never wanting to give his protege any credit for the team's world championships in 2004 and 2007. That attitude led to Epstein leaving the Red Sox for three months in 2008 before signing long-term deal through 2012.

Giving up a young pitcher such as Carpenter was too much in this case. A lower-level player and cash would have been proper compensation. There is no doubt that Epstein is a great talent, but as he said, he has never played one inning of organized baseball. Why should any team give up a player for a suit?

In the future, money would be the best way to compensate a team for a team president.

The Chicago Cubs are sending reliever Chris Carpenter to the Boston Red Sox as compensation for hiring Theo Epstein as president of baseball operations.

Read the entire story.

MESA, Ariz. -- Amid rumors that the Chicago Cubs compensation obligation to the Boston Red Sox for Theo Epstein could be decided soon, the club’s new president of baseball operations said nothing has been finalized.

“I’ve been in a meeting the last 3½ hours but I don’t think it’s been settled,” Epstein said Saturday, the scheduled day for the team’s pitchers and catchers to report to spring training. “But hopefully it will be here sometime soon.”

Commissioner Bud Selig got involved in the compensation decision since the Cubs and Red Sox failed to reach an agreement. The compensation for the Cubs is in exchange for hiring Epstein, who had one more year on his contract as Red Sox general manager.

Asked if he could clairify the process Selig will use to decide what type of player compensation the Red Sox will receive, Epstein declined to give any insight.

“I think those questions are probably best directed at Major League Baseball,” he said.

NEW YORK -- Boston and the Cubs have submitted written arguments to baseball commissioner Bud Selig on what compensation the Red Sox should receive for allowing Theo Epstein to leave for Chicago.

Epstein quit as Boston's general manager in October to become the Cubs' president of baseball operations, and the teams were unable to reach an agreement by themselves on compensation.

Selig has not given any timetable for a decision.

Cubs spokesman Peter Chase and Red Sox spokeswoman Pam Ganley said their teams had no comment.

Theo Epstein helped break one legendary baseball curse, and Curt Schilling believes he can do it again with the Chicago Cubs.

Read the entire story.

CHICAGO -- Commissioner Bud Selig will decide what compensation the Boston Red Sox will receive for Theo Epstein's move to the Chicago Cubs.

Epstein left as Boston's general manager with a year left on his contract to become president of baseball operations for the Cubs.

Epstein got a five-year, $18.5 million deal in late October. But the two teams have not been able to agree on compensation, and now it's up to Selig.

Selig said Friday night he'd like to have it done as quickly as possible. He said he gave the clubs more latitude in hopes they'd reach an agreement, but they couldn't. Selig said now it's his decision and that's OK, all part of the job.

Commissioner Bud Selig is now involved in the compensation talks for Theo Epstein between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Read the entire story.