Well that didn’t take long.
Paul Sullivan at the Chicago Tribune is reporting that Theo Epstein was seen at a Chicago-area Starbucks on Saturday morning.
Or maybe it was just a Theo-lookalike?
According to Sullivan, a Chicago Cubs fan surfing the ‘net at a Lincoln Park Starbucks noticed Theo walk out of a Honda and enter the coffee shop with a companion he determined (after an Internet search for “Theo Epstein’s wife”) was Theo’s missus. Â The fan asked “Theo” if he was, in fact, the General Manager of the Red Sox and was rebuffed with “I get that a lot” and “Who is Theo Epstein?”…so, naturally, the Cubs fan took that to mean the man in front of him was definitely Epstein.
Rumors abound about the Cubs asking the Red Sox permission to speak to Epstein about the vacant GM position in Chicago.  When asked about the rumor, Larry Lucchino and John Henry didn’t really quell any suspicions when they didn’t answer the straight question “Did the Cubs ask for permission to speak to Theo Epstein?” last Friday on the Dennis and Callahan show on WEEI radio.
So now the rumors have extended to (possible) hallucinations of the Red Sox General Manager in ChiTown. Â It promises to be a long and trying off-season for Red Sox fans.
(Originally published on Examiner.com)