Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein is getting closer and closer to becoming MLB's highest-paid front office executive. Epstein, as well as Cubs' owner Tom Ricketts, weighed in on the matter before the team's game against the Los Angeles Angels Monday night.
Epstein's five-year contract with the club expires after the 2016 season, but that doesn't mean he'll be going anywhere. Ricketts has made it known he wants to retain the 42-year-old, who could eclipse the record-setting deal given to Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman (five years, $35 million).
Here's the latest regarding the contract extension talks between the two sides:
Tom Ricketts admitted some progress in talks with Theo Epstein regarding a new contract. No timetable but they're getting close.
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) April 5, 2016
"I'd imagine we'll get it wrapped up at some point here in the near future," Ricketts added. "But (there's) no deadline."
"I thought they were good, productive conversations," Epstein said. "Neither one of us had a ton of time to focus on it. It's hard to make it a focus with so much else going on. But (there's) no cause for concern.
"We had good talks. And it's something we're going to continue to talk about. I think we both feel like it's going to get done at some point soon."
Epstein's current deal has paid him $18.5 million over the past five years, but he's built the Cubs into a World Series favorite after inheriting a disaster when he came over from the Boston Red Sox. The former Red Sox general manager took over in 2012, the year after Chicago finished fifth out of six in the NL Central for the second consecutive season. The club finished fifth again in 2012 and then fifth (last) in 2013 and 2014, but that was part of Epstein and Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer's plan. Their shrewd draft picks, international signings and trades resulted in the third-best MLB record in 2015, as well as an NLCS appearance.
In 2016, they're regarded as the top team in baseball after an active offseason during which they signed Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and John Lackey (in addition to a number of other moves).
Their 9-0 domination of the Angels last night behind ace Jake Arrieta further proved their supremacy, and they'll need Epstein running the show for the foreseeable future to maintain that consistency.
