Theo Epstein, the general manager of the Boston Red Sox for two championship teams in the last eight seasons, could be on his way to the Chicago Cubs in the next day or two if the Red Sox and Chicago can conclude negotiations, according to two sources.
"It's likely he's going to go but nothing has been finalized,'' a Red Sox official with direct knowledge of the negotiations told ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes.
The Cubs' negotiations with Epstein about taking over the top baseball job in the organization have been going so smoothly that the team has asked Major League Baseball what protocol will be for compensation if Epstein decides to join the Cubs, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine.
A source with knowledge of the talks told ESPN's Karl Ravech that the compensation would involve prospects and/or cash, but no major league players would be part of the deal, following traditional precedent.
This is going to be a very busy offseason for the Cubs. I would assume that the next step is to bring in Francona as manager, so he and Epstein can venture forward in their quest to become Baseball Gods.
As far as that last line, I think the Cubs should just say "screw traditional precedent" and try to pawn off Zambrano on Boston.
Theo Epstein, the general manager of the Boston Red Sox for two championship teams in the last eight seasons, could be on his way to the Chicago Cubs in the next day or two if the Red Sox and Chicago can conclude negotiations, according to two sources.
"It's likely he's going to go but nothing has been finalized,'' a Red Sox official with direct knowledge of the negotiations told ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes.
The Cubs' negotiations with Epstein about taking over the top baseball job in the organization have been going so smoothly that the team has asked Major League Baseball what protocol will be for compensation if Epstein decides to join the Cubs, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine.
A source with knowledge of the talks told ESPN's Karl Ravech that the compensation would involve prospects and/or cash, but no major league players would be part of the deal, following traditional precedent.
This is going to be a very busy offseason for the Cubs. I would assume that the next step is to bring in Francona as manager, so he and Epstein can venture forward in their quest to become Baseball Gods.
As far as that last line, I think the Cubs should just say "screw traditional precedent" and try to pawn off Zambrano on Boston.
The Red Sox will take Zambrano. Cubs have to take Lackey though.
I have a feeling that the source for that article was fairly high up in the Red Sox organization and was more designed to help grease the skids for the departures of Epstein and Francona. It didn't seem to affect them much from May to August when they had the best record in baseball.
I am cautously optimistic about what this means for the Cubs. I am hoping he builds a stronger system and we can actually develop our SECOND position player since Mark Grace (couting Starlin Castro) through our system. Of course, we will probably trade him away then, but ....
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