So, About that Theo Compensation Deadline and Other Bullets

I’ll have plenty more on the Hoyer/McLeod media tour soon, but for now, your morning non-Jed/Jason bullets…

  • Yesterday’s deadline for settling the compensation owed to the Red Sox for Theo Epstein came and went without a conclusion. At the press conference Epstein said that one of two things would happen: (1) the matter would be submitted to the Commissioner’s Office for a decision, or (2) the two sides would receive an extension. Buried at the bottom of an article – as though it isn’t an important issue – Gordon Wittenmyer says the two sides did receive an extension until the end of next week. I’m not seeing confirmation from other sources yet, though, and it would surprise me if such an important news bit was offered in a throwaway line at the end of an article on other topics. Then again, in a number of ways, it wouldn’t surprise me.
  • Buster Olney has been saying via various media that he thinks Red Sox fans will be disappointed with the compensation. Bruce Levine noted in a chat that the two sides, at one point, had an agreement that Chris Carpenter would be the choice, but the Red Sox backed out. It seems as though, if the Cubs were willing to give up Carpenter, that would be the baseline from which Bud Selig would work, if the matter comes before his office. That’s a steep price to pay.
  • Carpenter, together with Junior Lake and Trey McNutt, will be playing in the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars Game this Saturday, November 5 at 6pm CT, which will air on MLB Network.
  • If the Cubs’ managerial job opens up, the Cubs might target Brewers’ hitting coach Dale Sveum, says Jon Heyman. The Red Sox are already bringing him in for an interview.
  • The Gold Glove winners have been announced, and, naturally, there were no Cubs selected. Unrelated, the “defensive” awards continue their march toward “the best offensive player who happened to kind of also play some good defense this year” awards.
  • Dodgers’ owner/Gozer, the Destructor Frank McCourt has agreed to sell the Dodgers through the current bankruptcy case, with input from MLB. If you need a pick-me-up today, read this insane list of offenses in the McCourt ownership era, and then think fondly of the Cubs’ owner, the Ricketts Family. We’ve got it good, friends.
  • Those Theo Epstein No. 12 jerseys that popped up when the new President of Baseball Operations was announced? Gone.
  • Ryan Theriot says Albert Pujols coming to the Cubs would be a “gamechanger,” but I’m not entirely sure why I’m supposed to care. Relatedly, some oddsmakers have the Cubs as the favorites to land Pujols – over even the Cardinals – which tells me only that Cubs fans who gamble are clearly too exuberant. It is technically possible that he could come, but every time Theo or Jed speaks, those odds should be going down. Pujols returning to the Cardinals should be the prohibitive favorite.
  • Some miscellaneous background on possible free agent target, Japanese ace Yu Darvish.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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