It’s been nearly four months since Theo Epstein left the Red Sox to become President of Baseball Operations with the Cubs.

Tuesday, at last, a player was sent from the Cubs to the Red Sox as compensation for Epstein, since he still had a year left on his Boston contract. Here’s the scoop:

It’s officially Carpenter and PTBNL for a PTBNL from Red Sox. #Cubs

— Bruce Miles (@BruceMiles2112) February 21, 2012

Chris Carpenter — not the Cardinals righthander — is a hardthrowing, 26-year-old righthanded reliever who made 10 major league appearances for the Cubs in 2011, posting a decent 2.79 ERA but a 1.966 WHIP, giving up 12 hits and seven walks in 9⅔ innings pitched. He was expected to compete for a spot in the Cubs’ bullpen in 2012 and could get the same opportunity with the Red Sox.

Given the fact that each side will send a PTBNL to the other to complete this deal, we cannot definitively say that the Theo compensation issue is complete.

Further, the Red Sox’ 40-man roster is full; speculation Tuesday morning was that a pitcher (perhaps John Lackey or Daisuke Matsuzaka) would be moved to the 60-day DL to make room.

Finally, the Cubs still owe the Padres a player in compensation for signing Jed Hoyer as general manager. One hopes that won’t take as long.

For more on the Cubs, visit Bleed Cubbie Blue, and for more on the Red Sox, visit Over The Monster.