The book is now closed in terms of what the Red Sox got from the Cubs in exchange for GM Theo Epstein. The Sox will get Aaron Kurcz as their player to be named, making him the second player whom the Sox received from the Cubs (along with reliever Chris Carpenter).

Kurcz, 21, has had an interesting path as a professional. He initially enrolled at the Air Force Academy where he went for a year before transferring with the Academy’s blessing to go to the College of Southern Nevada to pursue his baseball career. The short (5-foot-11) right-hander ended up being taken by the Cubs in the 11th round of the 2010 draft. Read the rest of this entry »

FORT MYERS, Fla. — On one end of the Red Sox clubhouse sat Chris Carpenter, the hard-throwing reliever whom the Sox acquired from the Cubs as compensation for the departure of former GM Theo Epstein. In the middle of the clubhouse stood one of the few people in the world who can relate to Carpenter’s unusual path to the Red Sox.

Randy Winn spent 13 years in the big leagues, primarily with the Rays, Mariners and Giants. He was a versatile outfielder who could impact the game in any number of ways, and who earned an All-Star berth with Tampa Bay in 2002.

And he also was part of an unusual trade in 2002 that ended up assuming quite a bit of relevance this offseason. After the 2002 season, the Rays — who suffered through five brutal years — wanted to change the culture of losing that engulfed their organization. The team wanted to hire area native Lou Piniella away from the Mariners. Read the rest of this entry »

Larry Lucchino

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox CEO and President Larry Lucchino, in a visit with the Dennis & Callahan show, said that in retrospect his team would have handled the matter of compensation for the departure of former GM Theo Epstein differently.

When the Sox accepted Epstein’s resignation so that he could leave to become the president of baseball operations for the Cubs, they did manage to get a concession that Chicago would give them player compensation. However, the two sides did not agree on precisely which player or players would go back to the Sox. In the end, Lucchino said, the Sox were “a little disappointed” that their yield on the deal was right-handed relief prospect Chris Carpenter and a player to be named.

“[Carpenter is] a very strong-armed young pitcher who pitched in the major leagues last year, pitched quite well last year in relief, very low ERA in September when he pitched with the Cubs. He’s a guy who throws 95-100 mph,” said Lucchino. “The short answer to your question, and this is not meant to be a reflection on Chris Carpenter – we’re excited to have him and pleased to have him. Overall, are we disappointed in the process? I think the answer to that is yes. I think the Commissioner’s Office feels the Cubs are disappointed. They didn’t want to lose Chris Carpenter and another player who is going to be named later. They didn’t feel any player compensation was appropriate.

“They’re disappointed. We’re a little disappointed. The Commissioner’s Office probably says to themselves, ‘If both sides are a little disappointed, no one feels that this is a clear win, maybe we did our mediation job right.’”

While Major League Baseball might feel that the right outcome was achieved, Lucchino said that the Sox do wish that, with the benefit of hindsight, they’d brought the issue of compensation to greater resolution before agreeing to let Epstein go.

“We did at that point secure the fact that player compensation had to be provided. We did get something at that point,” said Lucchino. “Certainly, if we were doing it over, there would be greater clarity about the specifics of the compensation. That’s the way Major League Baseball would like to have it done.”

Still, while the Sox would have liked to have received a player with a different profile, Lucchino said that the Sox were satisfied with the outcome of Epstein’s departure. He believes that the Sox are well positioned to succeed in Epstein’s absence, which opened the door for Ben Cherington to become GM of the Sox.

“The net result is that we have a change,” said Lucchino. “Theo is where he wants to be. He didn’t want to be in Boston, he wanted to be in Chicago, so he’s out there. Ben Cherington could not be hungrier, happier, more prepared guy to take the reins of the baseball operations department. And through that process, we ended up with Bobby Valentine. So we don’t just look at the compensation of these two players. We look at the state of the franchise right now. Is it in good shape? Is it poised to have the kind of positive successful season that we want? I think the answer to that is yes. In that sense, the offseason was successful.”

Lucchino also touched on several additional topics during his appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show. Highlights are below. To listen to the complete interview, click here. Read the rest of this entry »

After being dealt from the Cubs, Chris Carpenter eyes a spot with the Red Sox. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — When you’re the player involved in the most-publicized trade of the offseason, you learn to adjust to the attention.

So it was for Chris Carpenter in the last several weeks as word spread that he could be the pitcher on the Cubs’ 40-man roster that would be going to Boston to complete the compensation package for Cubs’ President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein.

His first reaction?

“It was kind of one of those things where it was a little bit of a shock,” Carpenter said. “But I’m excited to be here and get to work.

“We all knew something was going to happen. It was like one of those things where we talked about, ‘What if it was you?’ You try not to think about it all the time. It was me and I’m here now and I’m happy to be here. It’s something you don’t really think about but it’s kind of cool.”

Still, while reporting to Arizona, where the Cubs train, Carpenter did his level best not to think about moving too much.

“We tried not to talk about it,” he said. “It was one of those things where we knew something was coming,” Carpenter said Friday in front of his locker. “You didn’t want to take away from getting your work done on the field [by] talking about that and always worrying about that but it was just one of those things where they called me in and told me and I’m here.”

Once it was over, Carpenter said his goodbyes to Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer and the Cubs staff and was ready to move on.

“I met Theo and Jed,” Carpenter said. “They were both good guys in the short time I knew them. Jed took me into the office and told me. Theo was back in Boston for family issues but he called me and left me a nice voicemail. He was nice about the whole issue.

“He was really business-like and our coaches were in the office, too, and they had been traded before and they just told me to just take a positive attitude. Everybody was really professional about the whole thing.”

The 26-year-old right-hander appeared in 42 combined games in relief at Double-A, Triple-A and for the Cubs in 2011. With the big league club he posted a 2.79 ERA in 10 relief outings in his first major league action. He is 21-19 with a 3.62 ERA in four minor league seasons.

What can he bring to the Red Sox?

“Power arm reliever,” said Carpenter, who’s been clocked between 95 and 97 MPH. “Hopefully, come out and throw strikes and I’ll get [people] out in the late innings of the game.”

His command is what has held him back to this point, walking 159 batters in 341 innings in four minor league seasons, after the Cubs selected him in the third round of the 2008 draft. Read the rest of this entry »

Buster Olney

Shortly after breaking the news that the Red Sox had reached a deal with David Ortiz, ESPN senior baseball writer Buster Olney joined Mut & Merloni and talked about how the deal came to fruition, as well as how it represents a change in philosophy for the Red Sox front office.

The Red Sox and Ortiz agreed on a one-year, $14.575 million deal, a midpoint between what the team was willing to offer and what Ortiz wanted. Though Ortiz ideally wanted a multiyear deal from the Red Sox, Olney said the team just felt better taking it one year at a time with the 36-year-old designated hitter.

“He was hopeful at some point that the Red Sox would eventually begin some dialogue on a multiyear deal, but they were so far apart,” Olney said. “From the beginning of this process when the Red Sox offered him that two-year, $18-19 million [offer] whatever it was, which obviously is very far from where they wound up. I think, too, the Red Sox were comfortable going one year at a time and I’d be willing to bet that’s probably the way it will be for the rest of his time with the Red Sox.”

With a new general manager in Ben Cherington, Olney said that the deal with Ortiz is indicative of a greater change in thinking in the Red Sox front office with former GM Theo Epstein now with the Cubs.

“There’s no question that there’s a real shift in philosophy that’s been going on around the Red Sox, around baseball,” Olney said. “I think David Ortiz is a dinosaur — he’ll be one of the last guys where you’ll see a team devote a lot of money to someone to be a designated hitter I think teams, for the most part, like to keep that position more flexible, to give injured guys rest.”

Given Ortiz’ age and position within the team, Olney indicated that the DH is on a short leash if his production starts to decline, even to the point where the Red Sox may let him go.

“If he has any kind of a drop-off, he’s reached the age where if he has a 10 percent drop-off from this year going into next year, then the Red Sox would probably be inclined where they would look at it and say, ‘I think we can save some money,’ ” Olney said. “I think David’s in a position where, as long as he continues to have seasons like he did last year, he’ll continue to get paid. And if he regresses at all at his age, I bet the Red Sox will bail out on it.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein reflected on his time in Boston and gave his thoughts on the Red Sox' off-season. (AP)

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Speaking at an event at Sacred Heart University, Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman both gave some insight into what offseasons are like for them when it comes to making deals to improve their ball clubs. Epstein also reflected on his 10 seasons in the Red Sox organization and the impetus for his departure to become president of baseball operations with the Cubs following the 2011 season.

For general managers, the offseason is all about improving their teams for the next season and beyond. Epstein and Cashman would know better than anyone what this process is like. The two agreed that sometimes the deals that get the most publicity and public approval rarely pan out as planned.

“As a GM I get buyer’s remorse on every move that I make,” Cashman said. “When trades get resounding [approval] it is like you’re getting set up. I do cringe every time there is positive publicity. You don’t win on deals — you win on the field.”

Epstein agreed, citing the example of the Carl Crawford signing last offseason.

Crawford signed a seven-year, $142 million contract in December of 2010 and in his first season with the Red Sox he batted .255 (the lowest of his career) with a .289 OBP (again, the worst of his career), .691 OPS, 11 home runs, 56 RBIs and just 18 steals.

“Ultimately [it] comes down from the players. The moves that get the most approval from the fans and media sometimes don’t work out,” Epstein said. “Last winter was good example. Crawford had a tough first year. The more public the move, the less likely it will work out in the long haul. Organizations are made through lower level moves and through the drafts. … In reality you’re not building a team for one season; you’re building an organization. It does take years and years of slow grinding and building work.”

Read the rest of this entry »

When Theo Epstein resigned from his post as general manager of the Red Sox to become president of baseball operations with the Cubs, it was with an understanding that there would be no raid on his former Sox baseball operations staff. Epstein could hire one Sox employee, and it could not be one of the top-level employees in the department.

And so, according to multiple industry sources, the Cubs ended up hiring Red Sox area scout Matt Dorey, who had been an evaluator in Louisiana and Texas in the last two years after having started for the club as a Northwest area scout in 2007, when current Cubs assistant GM Jason McLeod was the Red Sox director of amateur scouting. Dorey will be promoted to the position of national crosschecker with the Cubs.

Dorey was considered one of the top evaluators for the Sox, something reflected both in the key region that he was assigned to cover and in the fact that he was credited with signing several top Sox picks in recent years. Among the players credited to Dorey were right-hander Anthony Ranaudo (sandwich pick, 2010), third baseman Garin Cecchini (2010 fourth round), outfielder Kendrick Perkins (2010 sixth round) and Lucas LeBlanc (2010 11th round), a group in which the Sox invested nearly $5 million in one draft.

Dorey is the second prominent Sox amateur scout to be hired away in recent days. Danny Haas, who had been the Sox’ East Coast crosschecker, was hired last week as an Orioles national crosschecker.

The Cubs have also hired former Red Sox pro scout Kyle Evans, but that was not a violation of the agreement given that Evans already was leaving the Sox. And Epstein and the Cubs may also try to hire former Red Sox VP of international scouting and player personnel Craig Shipley, who has parted ways with the Sox after having been replaced last month as the Sox’ director of international scouting. Shipley was one of the first front office hires by Epstein when he became Sox GM in 2002.