FORT MYERS, Fla. — Theo Epstein’s value to the Boston Red Sox was easy to gauge. A quick glance at the two World Series trophies at Fenway Park settles that.
Determining his value to the Chicago Cubs, another title-starved franchise desperately hoping to be saved by the Boy Wonder, turned out to be a much more complicated and difficult question to answer. Turns out the architect of a two-time champion who revived a franchise that had long been known for choking in the biggest moments was worth a 26-year-old, hard-throwing reliever and a player to be named later.
The two teams finally announced a deal Tuesday that settles a four-month dispute over what Boston should get as compensation when Epstein left for Chicago. The Cubs sent right-handed reliever Chris Carpenter and a player to be named later to the Red Sox for a player to be named.
"I think it took this long because it was a unique circumstance," said Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, who served under Epstein before succeeding him. "We talk to teams all the time about trades and it’s player for player and it’s pretty easy to, easier to, assign value and figure out what’s fair, what’s not fair. In this case it was just tougher because it involved not just an executive but a friend."
Epstein said it was nice to finally have the matter resolved.
Carpenter was a third-round draft pick by the Cubs in 2008. He made 42 relief appearances between double-A Tennessee, triple-A Iowa and the Cubs. He saw his first major league action last season, with no record and a 2.79 ERA in 10 appearances.
