By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff
According to a team source, Theo Esptein, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner were seen walking around the Fenway outfield yesterday afternoon involved in an "animated" discussion.
So it appears the topic of Epstein going to the Cubs was certainly brought up unless they were discussing the possibility of bringing in the right field fences as they had discussed last season.
The Cubs did fill out the proper forms with Major League Baseball to seek permission to speak to Theo Epstein, according to a Major League Baseball source.
Channel 5's Mike Lynch reported that the focus of the ownership group discussions yesterday centered around whether the Red Sox should ask the Cubs for compensation merely to ask permission to speak to Epstein, who is under contract until 2012.
According to our MLB source, there was nothing wrong with the Red Sox asking, but that to his knowledge this type of request had never been made.
Asking for permission to speak to a candidate is normally tied in with compensation the team granting the interview would receive if the party decided to sign on with the new team.
Major League Baseball has to approve all of it.