Rozner: Epstein expects Chicago Cubs contract to happen

Chicago Cubs fans are used to waiting. It's a generational thing.

But as bad times have turned to good, and the team's progress has gone from zero to 60 in a proverbial heartbeat, they have come to expect consistently good news and expect it in a timely fashion.

So when a question remains unanswered it makes you nervous, and on this question you have reason to be.

Where is Theo Epstein's contract extension?

Since the winter meetings last year, people around the game have been quietly wondering why Cubs owner Tom Ricketts has not yet extended Epstein, and those conversations will be audible if Epstein reaches the end of this deal in a couple of months without new paper.

Theo Epstein would then become the most sought-after, free-agent executive in the history of the game.

And if Dodgers boss Andrew Friedman is worth five years and $35 million to Los Angeles, what would that make Epstein worth?

No disrespect to Friedman - who was great in Tampa and has somehow filled Dodger Stadium with chicken salad in 2016 - but Epstein won two titles in Boston and built the framework for the Red Sox's third World Series victory.

What he's done from scratch on the North Side is even more impressive and, regardless of whether the Cubs win a World Series, Epstein's ticket to Cooperstown has already been punched.

So what's the holdup on a new contract?

"Tom and I have a great relationship, want the same things," Epstein said via text Tuesday night. "Expecting it to happen."

Well, that is good news for the faithful, who have hitched their wagon to a man putting their team on the verge of something big, be it this year or one of the next half-dozen.

Epstein signed here for five years and $18.5 million in October 2011. So what's he worth right now? Based on Friedman's deal, it can't be less than five years and $50 million.

On the other hand, maybe Epstein is waiting to see the outcome of the postseason, and maybe he'll be worth much more than that if the Cubs win it all this season.

Maybe then it's five years and $100 million - or maybe he has something else in mind.

A major-league exec told me recently that if he were Epstein, he would play out the contract, betting that the Cubs will win the World Series.

And if they win, he would ask for a piece of the franchise.

Hey, why not? The Cubs are worth $2.2 billion, according to Forbes, and that's only going to increase as the Cubs maximize revenue from winning, Wrigley renovations and a new TV deal.

A $3 billion valuation by the end of this decade hardly seems a stretch, and maybe Epstein thinks he ought to have a chunk of that.

If you're Tom Ricketts, it would be hard to argue once Epstein has driven that double-decker down Michigan Avenue in November.

In the process, Epstein will also want to make certain his close pals Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod become very wealthy as well.

It is absurd, after all, that you have GMs making half a million or a million bucks a year while 20 teams began this season with payrolls of more than $100 million.

If, as an owner, you're going to entrust someone with spending all that cash, perhaps that person should be paid more than a rookie, third-string catcher.

In the meantime, the fear is that Epstein will win this year and walk away, bored and in search of the next challenge. The problem is there is no "next challenge" once you've ended droughts in Boston and Chicago, unless he thinks Cleveland would be a nice place to spend a decade.

Perhaps there is something else out there for him, like commissioner of baseball, head of a TV network or a manned mission to Mars.

Or maybe he'd like to own his own team and sees the state of Florida ripe for the picking.

Of course, that would only happen once Epstein has finished the job he started here, and that could happen in less than two months.

Still, Epstein made it sound Tuesday like he will be back in 2017.

Cubs fans will breathe easier only when they see his name on the dotted line.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM and follow him on @BarryRozner on Twitter.