The Cubs are on the brink of completing a deal with the GM Theo Epstein and the Red Sox. Here are the details and more managerial and GM notes from around MLB…
- MLB.com's Carrie Muskat hears that chairman Tom Ricketts is handling compensation discussions for the Cubs. However, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports that assistant GMs Ben Cherington and Randy Bush will do most of the negotiating with upper management signing off on the expected agreement.
- John Dennis of WEEI hears that the Red Sox and Cubs won't start talks about compensation for Epstein until today (link via Rob Bradford of WEEI.com).
- Epstein will earn $3MM or more on his new deal with the Cubs, but it still falls short of what Tigers president and GM Dave Dombrowski earns, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (Twitter links). Heyman noted earlier this week that Dombrowski, one of baseball's longest-tenured GMs, earns about $5MM.
- Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times hears that the Cubs expect a reconciliation with Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg this week. Epstein interviewed Sandberg for Boston's Triple-A managerial position last offseason, but Sandberg turned the job down to manage in the Phillies' system. Cubs manager Mike Quade is under contract through 2012.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post explains the challenges GMs face in Boston and New York. One MLB executive is amazed that Yankees GM Brian Cashman has continued to do his job under such intense pressure for more than a decade.
Well maybe we can see what the epstein compensation will finally be.
Welcome back to chicago Ryno.
wait i thought there was no compensation
Sucks to be Quade right now. First Sharon Stone turns on him, now this?
I don’t get it. Seriously I need it explained to me…
Ever seen Total Recall?
Theo will earn less than Dombrowski? Have they started a fund yet? Will they schedule an event to make up the difference? Will Theo apply for an EBT card? Oh the pain!
Yeah it would suck to make a mere 250k a month.
Seriously , lol. Oh how will he ever be able to support his family on such a small salary. I would take the 250k a year,even over 2 years, never mind a month.
it was a joke guy
I would be happy with 250k for 3 years.
Dude, his was a joke as well.
We need to get a least two good prospects from the cubs.I have no problem welcoming theo back and let him work under his last contract.
Last I saw, the Sox were looking for cash rather than prospects. I figure there’s a reason for that — you probably don’t want any of our prospects even if we could find two good ones.
1)Red Sox receive cash
2)Red Sox sign Pujols for 1 yr 35M contract
3)Red Sox sign CJ Wilson for 1 yr 27M contract4)….5)….
7)Profit???
Yes, obviously the most likely scenario EVER
troll
it’s feasible
No, it’s really not.
it’s sarcasm
I think Dombrowski earned his salary this year.
Anyone hearing what the compensation is going to be
If you believe Gammons, it’s Brett Jackson. If you believe reality then it’s only speculation at this point.
Gammons doesn’t know who Brett Jackson is. For Gammons, he’s a right-handed hitting right fielder . . . for the rest of us he’s a left-handed hitting center-fielder who doesn’t have the arm for right.
I’m hearing it will most likely be some cash.
i think the cash is to pay for theo last contract
Whaddup Grady? Remember me…the all-star on your 2003 team?
everyone this is afam.just wanted to create an actually account instead
such pressure in new york for cashman…. here brian, spend as much as you want. pitching? drafting and trades? oh don’t worry about those, those are for poor people.
I think it’s more along the lines of “You didn’t win the World Series, you failed!”
definitely… lucky for him big george is gone… or else he’d probably be gone too.
And how do you figure that? Because he’s on an oh so small 2 year drought? You know before that he was on a 9 year drought.
I obviously don’t, and don’t really care… about the AL East. At all.
You should watch “Too Much Moneyball” on youtube. 😀
I just want this to be over with already, and have the Sox hire a damn manager.
Yeah forget process of interviews! Just throw names in a hat and pick one out!
I’ve seen Jay Jackson mentioned a couple places…he was one of the Cubs top 3 SP prospects in 2010, but had a bad 2011 season and a drop in velocity. Once Epstein told the Sox he was leaving when his contract was up, they lost a lot of leverage.
Aside from the fact that he never said that, you are absolutely correct…
Joelsherman1 Joel Sherman Heard #Redsox wanted keep Theo, but Epstein made clear leaving when contract up after ’12 . So OK’d #Cubs: Didn’t want expensive lameduck
Sherman’s a hack, and everyone else was reporting that it took over a day to be finalized because Theo wasn’t sure he actually wanted to leave.
The Sox don’t need money from Chicago, they need players.
The Cubs and Theo have no leverage at all. He Sox can say thanks but no thanks. We want more. Theo, get back to work.
Cool story Bro. And when your team has a GM that everyone knows is gone after this year?
The end story is this, if hes getting a bump in title (i.e president of baseball operations) there’s almost nothing that the Red Sox can/will do to stop it. If you don’t believe me, I recommend looking up any situation where an MLB team offered a vertical position jump to another team’s employee and it didn’t end up going through.
Yeah that would work, sure worked well when the Mariners said that to Randy Johnson in 1999, and all he did was lob batting practice to the opposing team, probably the only time some of those guys hit one off of him, and the M’s were forced to trade him to Houston, when someone wants to go, they will go, if you force them to stay, you get what you paid for.
I guess all I am saying is the sox still have some say in it. Am I just dead wrong on this?
They have some say, but is it really a good idea to keep a GM who doesn’t care/want to be there? Maybe in his last season, he decides to trade for Soriano or Zambrano so they aren’t his problem when he jumps to Chicago for 2013, haha!
If Chicago doesn’t sign Theo they’ll sign someone else, so Theo wouldn’t be going to the Cubs in 2013.
ever heard of a one year deal? or an ‘Interim’ tag? the cubs signed a 1b to a 1-year deal last offseason for a reason.
1st basemen and GMs are a little bit different. Teams don’t like to go through complete seasons/off-seasons with interim General Managers, and it is quite uncommon; in all likelihood they would not wait a year to sign a long-term GM.
theo doesnt want to be there, leverage gone
There’s no way that happens, if the Sox decide they aren’t getting enough compensation and nix the deal Theo will get back to work just as he did before. There would surely be problems between him and ownership, but there is no way he intentionally screws things up; nobody would hire him if he pulled that crap, plus he’s been discontented before and still done a fine job as GM.
I would love to see Ryno managing the Cubs! If Epstein does this, he will have won the hearts of many in Chi-town right off the bat! Hey at this point- I would even take a ‘pill- popping’ Francona over Quade! Make it happen THEO!!!
Red Sox asking for cash which they will send to San Diego with John Lackey’s contract. His contract will come off the books and then they will hesitantly look at another free agent starting pitcher (e.g. CJ Wilson) but may not go there, having been burnt by Lackey signing.
May also receive a high-ceiling 18-year old or 2 to appease the fans.
“…assistant GMs Ben Cherington and Randy Bush will do most of the negotiating…”
I’m hoping that considering this as well as since he’s been in all the high level decisions so far that this means Cherrington is pretty much waiting to be named to the GM position.
Joel Sherman should just go to the NYT since they have all the rest of the dolt reporters in NY. What a bunch of rubbish. That guy is out of his mond.