By Jim Owczarski
CSNChicago.com
Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig made an appearance at SoxFest Friday night to present Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf with the 2011 Commissioner's Award for Philanthropic Excellence, but the hottest topic for the commissioner was the still-unresolved compensation issue for Theo Epstein between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs.
Epstein was hired by the Cubs in late October to become their president of baseball operations, but the teams have not yet agreed how the Red Sox should be compensated for allowing him to leave his post as general manager.
The initial window for the clubs to reach a decision was 10 days.
Its in my lap and I have information from both clubs and well take it from there, Selig said. Id like to get it done as expeditiously as possible.
When pressed as to why its taken over three months to get to this point, Selig said: The clubs tried to settle it themselves and I had a lot of patience because everything controversial ends up on my desk. In this case, I did give the clubs more latitude, both Chicago and Boston, in the hope they could come to some conclusion but they didnt and its OK, so now I have it.
Thats the way baseball is set up. If the Cubs cant solve their own dispute, then the commissioner does. After 20 years, I accept that as part of the job and I dont really think too much about it.