Thank you for not only taking the time to come in and express your opinion, but also for doing it in such a well thought out manner. I almost hate to tell you that one of the central tenets of your argument is incomplete. You admit that the Cubs have at least some degree of leverage purely from a PR standpoint (you may even ascribe more leverage to that angle than I do). You admit that the Cubs have some leverage simply because there are other options. But you have completely omitted the single most important piece of leverage the Cubs have. Money. More precisely, the Red Sox are on the hook for somewhere in the realm of $6,500,000 if this deal falls through, due to the nature of his Theo's contract and the conclusion bonus. Yeah, the Red Sox can afford to eat that, but try thinking of it another way. That's what, 3-5 excellent superslots in the draft? More? The Cubs are basically already offering the equivalent of about 1/3 ~ 1/4 of your draft budget next year. You could bring Theo back, but you'd lose far more than most I've seen at SoSH are willing to admit.