After weeks of haggling between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, new Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has finally made it to the Windy City, according to a Monday afternoon report from the Chicago Tribune.
The report stated that the ex-Red Sox general manager met with Cubs owners at Wrigley Field before having lunch at a nearby restaurant with a group of Cubs baseball operations staffers that included Randy Bush, Oneri Fleita, Chuck Wasserstrom, Jimmy Bank, Ari Kaplan and Scott Nelson.
Epstein will return to Wrigley Field at 11 a.m. Tuesday for his introductory news conference, which can be watched live online at www.chicagotribune.com/sports. The conference will be held even though the two teams have not yet decided what the Cubs will send the Red Sox as compensation for Epstein. The teams released a joint statement Friday night saying they "have reached an agreement regarding a process by which appropriate compensation will be determined for the Red Sox and that issue will be resolved in the near term."
Though a deal has not yet been ironed out, commissioner Bud Selig told CSNNE.com Sunday that he would set the terms of compensation if the two teams did not do so themselves before Nov. 1.
"They have until Nov. 1 -- Theo and (new Red Sox GM) Ben (Cherington) and all the other parties involved," Selig said. "Hopefully they can get things done. I always encourage clubs to try to get things done between themselves. Somehow, the commissioner has enough things of controversy (to deal with).
"They'll either get it done or they won't. If they don't, then I will."
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