After months of indecision and not coming to an agreement on compensation for Theo Epstein, the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs passed the matter on to MLB commissioner Bud Selig a few weeks ago. But before Selig could reach his decision, the two sides finally agreed to a deal.

As compensation for Epstein, the Red Sox will receive RHP Chris Carpenter, no not the one who won the NL Cy Young, and a player to be named later in exchange for a player to be named later. To make room for Carpenter on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox have placed Bobby Jenks on the 60-day DL.

Here’s the release from the Red Sox:

The Boston Red Sox today acquired right-handed pitcher Chris Carpenter and a player to be named later from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for a player to be named later. To make room for Carpenter on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox placed right-handed pitcher Bobby Jenks on the 60-day disabled list as he recovers from back surgery.

With the trade, the compensation for Theo Epstein joining the Cubs as the team’s President of Baseball Operations is complete. The transaction has been agreed upon by both clubs.

Carpenter, 26, made his Major League debut with Chicago in 2011 and posted a 2.79 ERA (3 ER/9.2 IP) over his 10 games with the Cubs, all out of the bullpen. He limited left-handed batters to a .143 average (2-for-14) and held opponents scoreless in eight of 10 outings. The right-hander also combined for 32 relief appearances between Chicago’s Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa clubs last year, going 3-4 with two saves and a 5.91 ERA (28 ER/42.2 IP) between the two stops.

Selected by the Cubs in the third round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, Carpenter owns a 21-19 record, two saves, a 3.62 ERA (137 ER/341.0 IP) and 289 strikeouts in 96 career minor league games (60 starts) in Chicago?s system. He started 60 of his first 64 professional outings and has appeared in relief in each of his last 42.

Carpenter led all Cubs minor leaguers with a 2.82 ERA (41 ER/130.2 IP) in 2009 and was named an Arizona Fall League Rising Star in 2010.

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The ‘boys of summer’ will return to TBS as the network opens its 26-game Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season schedule on Sunday, April 8, with the Tampa Bay Rays hosting their American League East division rival the New York Yankees. The “Sunday MLB on TBS” schedule for 2012, which includes match-ups on the network every Sunday afternoon throughout the regular season, includes multiple appearances by the New York Yankees (April 8, April 29 and May 6) and the Boston Red Sox (April 15, May 20 and May 27). The schedule will also feature a rematch of the 2011 ALCS when Josh Hamilton and the two-time defending AL champion Texas Rangers visit Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers on April 22 at 1 p.m. (ET). Other highlights of the early schedule include:

• April 8: The “Sunday MLB on TBS” schedule gets underway with Derek Jeter and the Yankees taking on Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays (1:30 p.m. ET).
• May 13: A National League showdown featuring the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Atlanta Braves (2 p.m. ET).
• May 20: Interleague match-up between two star-studded squads when Adrian Gonzalez and the Red Sox visit Hunter Pence and the Philadelphia Phillies (1:30 p.m. ET).

The network will also exclusively televise the 2012 MLB All-Star Selection Show on Sunday, July 1. In October, TBS will once again provide exclusive coverage of all four MLB Division Series (DS) and the American League Championship Series (ALCS). The network will announce future games on its schedule coinciding with its selection windows.

2012 SUNDAY MLB ON TBS SCHEDULE

TBS has broadcast MLB coverage for more than 30 years serving as the exclusive home of the MLB Division Series (DS) and one League Championship Series (LCS) since 2007 and home of Atlanta Braves coverage from 1977 to 2007.

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Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as they are in Pittsburgh, PA for a Big East matchup with the Pitt Panthers. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised in Connecticut on CPTV.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Doty Had Tooth Re-Bonded Sunday [Rich Elliott – CT Post]

Huskies Look To Move On After Disappointing Loss To St. John’s [Rich Elliott – CT Post]

No. 4 UConn Set For Pitt On Tuesday [UConnHuskies.com]

UConn women look to regroup at Pitt [CT Post]

Loss To St. John’s Proved Geno’s Point [Hartford Courant]

Sophomore season hasn’t been an easy one for Stefanie Dolson [New Haven Register]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

George Blaney’s Take [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Wrapping Things Up From Philly [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Shabazz Has Pizzazz [David Borges – New Haven Register]

the wrap [Ed Daigneault – The Republican-American]

Notes/Quotes from Villanova: “I hit that and I was like ‘Bullseye.’” [Kevin Duffy – CT Post]

Shabazz shocks ‘em all [Neill Ostrout – Journal Inquirer]

On the Brink [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Napier’s long 3 lifts UConn in thriller [CT Post]

No decision made on UConn’s 2013 tournament fate [CT Post]

UConn Beats Villanova In Overtime, 73-70 [Hartford Courant]

Notebook: UConn’s 2013 Tournament Life Still Being Debated [Hartford Courant]

Napier Backed Up His Talk When It Counted [Hartford Courant]

Shabazz Napier 3-pointer gives Huskies OT win over Villanova [New Haven Register]

Other UConn related links

Baseball. Ward Named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week [UConnHuskies.com]

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Shabazz Napier called out his teammates after Saturday’s loss, saying they had no “heart”. Considering how bad the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team was losing early on in this one, it seemed as though no one listened.

But things started to change and the Huskies gradually worked themselves back into the game, eventually regaining the lead in the second half. Poor free throw shooting almost cost them the game but thanks to Napier, they were able to pull this one out.

Napier’s three pointer with .6 seconds left was the difference as the Huskies beat the Villanova Wildcats 73-70 in overtime in front of 13,382 at the Wells Fargo Center and a nationally televised audience on ESPN’s Big Monday in Philadelphia, PA.

With UConn (17-10, 7-8 Big East) up 65-64 in overtime, Jeremy Lamb hit two free throws to put the Huskies up three. Roscoe Smith then blocked a JayVaughn Pinkston shot and then he fouled Lamb who corraled in the rebound. Lamb missed the front end of the one-and-one and Villanova (11-16, 4-11) went down and missed a three with the ball going out of bounds.

Napier’s inbound pass was picked off by Pinkston and the Wildcats went down the court with Ty Johnson missing a layup. But Mouphtaou Yarou grabbed the rebound and fouled by Alex Oriakhi. Yarou nailed both free throws to cut the lead down to one. On the inbound play, the Wildcats fouled Napier who missed the front end as Lamb did but the Huskies got the rebound.

After a timeout, the Wildcats fouled Lamb who hit both free throws. Villanova got it to within one on a Johnson layup and they fouled Lamb again when the ball was inbounded. Lamb hit the first but missed the second free throw giving the Wildcats a chance to tie or win the game.

Johnson would tie the game up with a layup with four seconds left. Napier took the inbounds pass and pulled up at around the 29 foot mark and swished the three. Villanova would throw the ensuing inbounds pass out of bounds giving the Huskies a hard fought win.

To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Lamb was the only Husky to score in double figures and he did it in big fashion as he scored a career-high 32 points while pulling down five rebounds. Andre Drummond added eight points and 11 rebounds while Ryan Boatright also had eight points, four assists and three steals. Smith had a nice game as well with seven points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.

Dominic Cheek led the Wildcats with 23 points. Johnson added 14 points, five rebound and six assists while Pinkston added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Yarou chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds.

Things were definitely looking good for the Huskies early on at all. They would find themselves down by 16 at 26-8 with 8:23 in the half. But UConn was resilient and battled back. Over the next eight minutes, they responded with a 22-4 run to tie the game up at 30 and that’s where the two teams stood at the break.

The Huskies would finally take their first lead since being up 2-0 when Lamb nailed a jumper at the 16:45 mark. Lamb would push the lead up to five with a three. With the score 40-35 in UConn’s favor, the Wildcats battled back to tie it up with five straight points. It would stay close for a bit before UConn would push their lead to seven at 54-47 on an old-fashioned three point play by Lamb.

Villanova didn’t quit either as they would battle back with an 11-4 run to tie the game up at 58. Yarou would hit two free throws with 2:18 left in the game to give the Wildcats a two point lead. UConn then couldn’t buy a basket and found themselves in a boatload of trouble. But with 32 seconds left, Smith stole the Villanova inbounds pass and the Huskies would eventually tie the game up on an Oriakhi tip in. The Huskies would have to sweat out the final 23 seconds as Pinkston would miss a jumper setting up the overtime.

Given how bad it looked early on, I’m very pleased with how the Huskies responded. They could have given up but they didn’t. Despite the fact that Lamb looked like he was UConn’s offense, I will say this was a great team effort. Hopefully this is the win that wakes them up and shows them what can happen when they play as a team.

It won’t be easy though for the Huskies their next time out though as they welcome the No. 2/2 Syracuse Orange to Gampel Pavilion on Saturday night. Tip is scheduled for 9 p.m. and the game will be nationally-televised on ESPN. The ESPN GameDay crew will be on campus as well and will be broadcasting from Gampel all day long.

Notes and musings:

UConn Huskies @ Villanova Wildcats 2.20.12 box score

Before the game, Alex Oriakhi put Holy Water on the head of everyone before they came out to the court.

The starting five for the Huskies were Ryan Boatright, Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith, Alex Oriakhi and Andre Drummond.

UConn shot 43.1% (28-65) from the floor while the Wildcats shot 40.3% (25-62).

The Huskies had 12 assists on their 28 made baskets.

UConn was 7-of-23 (30.4%) from beyond the arc. Villanova was 3-of-9 (33.3%). They actually hit all of their threes during that big run to start the game.

As I said in the recap, the Huskies were AWFUL at the free throw line. They were 10-of-22 (45.5%). I’ve always said at one point it would cost them a game and it almost happened in this one.

Villanova outrebounded UConn 45-37.

The Wildcats outscored the Huskies 30-28 in the paint and 11-7 on the fast break.

UConn had 17 second chance points to eight for Villanova.

The Huskies had 12 points off 15 Wildcats turnovers. Villanova had 13 points off of nine UConn turnovers.

UConn’s bench outscored Villanova’s 11-4.

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Photo credit: Bettina Hansen – Hartford Courant (No. 17 in gallery)

Here’s the release from UConn about 22 UConn Huskies football players earning Big East All-Academic Honors:

PROVIDENCE – A total of 22 University of Connecticut football student-athletes have been named to the 2011 BIG EAST All-Academic Football Team. To be nominated, a player must have a cumulative grade-point index of at least 3.0 and completed a minimum of two semesters of academic work.

The following is a list of UConn players named to that team:

• Harris Agbor Sr. S Mesquite, Texas Finance/Political Science
• Jimmy Bennett Jr. OT Alexandria, Va. Accounting
• Tyler Bennett Sr. WR Alexandria, Va. Communication Sciences
• Robert Cherry So. WR Simsbury, Conn. Biological Sciences
• Jeremy Claflin Fr. S West Hartford, Conn. Exploratory
• Steve Greene So. OG Edensburg, Pa. Sport Management
• Frank Guardi So. WR New Fairfield, Conn. Exploratory
• Jory Johnson Jr. OLB Mobile, Ala. Economics
• Alex Kantor So. S Potomac, Md. Exploratory
• Chris Lopes So. CB Brockton, Mass. Communications
• Dominick Manco Fr. LS Lagrangeville, N.Y. Exploratory
• Corey Manning Jr. TE Tyrone, Ga. Finance
• Chris Matteis Fr. FB North Haven, Conn. Undeclared
• Scott McCummings RFr. QB Natick, Mass. Exploratory
• Adam Mueller So. LS Park Ridge, Ill. History
• Alex Pagan Sr. QB East Windsor, Conn. Political Science
• Moe Petrus Sr. C St. Laurent, Que. Psychology
• James Scherer Jr. DB Middlefield, Conn. Exercise Science
• Dave Teggart Sr. K Northborough, Mass. Coaching and Administration
• Robert Urban Sr. LB Southbury, Conn. Pharmacy
• Isaac White So. LB Waterbury, Conn. Pre-Kinesiology
• Nick Williams Jr. WR East Windsor, N.J. Economics

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