[Strikeout King]

The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox are finalizing a deal that would make Theo Epstein the Cubs' president of baseball operations at some point Thursday morning, according to a Major League Baseball source.

A source with knowledge of negotiations said: "The two sides are on the 5-yard line."

A news conference is expected on Friday.

The Red Sox initially asked for Cubs starting pitcher Matt Garza, and at one point proposed the Cubs take pitcher John Lackey's contract as part of the compensation, according to a major league source. Lackey has three seasons remaining on a five-year, $82.5 million contract. He was 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA in 28 starts for the Red Sox in 2011.

But the expected agreement will include Cubs minor leaguers, although not top prospects Brett Jackson, Trey McNutt and Matt Szczur, the source said. Cash will not be part of the compensation.

MLB already has told the Cubs that they can have a news conference on Friday, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Two other sources confirmed ESPNChicago.com's report that San Diego Padres general manager Jed Hoyer will be named Cubs GM a few days after Epstein's news conference. But Padres owner Jeff Moorad emailed ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes late Wednesday night that the Cubs had not asked for official permission to interview Hoyer.

Hoyer will be granted permission to leave when San Diego promotes senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes to vice president-general manager, a source said. Byrnes was GM of the Arizona Diamondbacks when Moorad was part-owner of the Diamondbacks. Sources said Moorad always had wanted Byrnes to return to the job, even though he respected Hoyer, who he hired in 2010.

There will be no compensation for Hoyer, a source said. Moorad and Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts have become friends since the Ricketts family bought the Cubs in October 2009. Ricketts was in San Diego on Sept. 28, which was the last day of the regular season, and did not return with the Cubs on the flight back to Chicago. Ricketts met with Moorad and sat with him, Byrnes and Hoyer during the season finale.

The Ricketts family has a strong relationship with Byrnes' brother through their bond business, and it's been confirmed that Ricketts had some informal conversations with Byrnes as far back as spring training.

Byrnes and Hoyer worked with Epstein in Boston before moving to their next positions. Hoyer took over as Padres GM in 2010 after Kevin Towers was fired.




http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/i...n-thursday