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Two months later, no Theo Epstein compensation

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December 22, 2011|By Peter Abraham

Today marks the two-month anniversary of Theo Epstein resigning as general manager of the Red Sox so he could become president of baseball operations of the Cubs.

Yet the clubs have still not worked out a compensation package for the Cubs to send to the Red Sox. In October, they said in a joint statement that the “issue will be resolved in the near term.”

Since then, here is what has transpired regarding compensation:

On Oct. 23, commissioner Bud Selig said the teams had until Nov. 1 to make a deal or he would step in and mediate. That deadline came and went without comment or action from the commissioner.

On Nov. 2, new Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said the teams would “get a little more time” to work something out.

On Nov. 9, Cherington said the sides would talk at the general managers’ meetings the following week.

On Nov. 17, Epstein said the sides had agreed to table their talks until after the Rule 5 Draft at the Winter Meetings on Dec. 8.

On Dec. 15, Cherington said, “I think sometime in the next 15 to 20 years we should have a resolution. I think at some point this offseason we will put that to bed. People get tired of this answer but it’s mostly because we’ve had other things to do.”

Eventually the Red Sox will likely get a player from the Cubs. But it’ unrealistic to think the Red Sox will get anything of value at this stage. Whatever leverage they had vanished the second they let Epstein walk out the door.