Cubs to reach out to Bartman

CHICAGO — The Cubs, having exorcised all of their ghosts by winning their first World Series since 1908, hope to deal directly with one of the younger casualties of their ineptitude.

Steve Bartman, the Cubs fan who has long been in hiding after interfering with a foul ball in 2003 NLCS Game 6 and seeing the Cubs instantly fall apart, should expect a phone call or email shortly.

“I’m sure we’ll reach out to him at the right time,’’ Tom Ricketts, the team’s chairman, told USA Today in a story published Wednesday, “and I’m sure we’ll figure something out that provides closure for everybody. Hopefully, we can make it work.”

Ricketts probably shouldn’t get too optimistic. Bartman issued a statement the morning after his brush with infamy and hasn’t been heard from since.

Bartman’s spokesman Frank Murtha, asked whether Bartman would be amenable to such a gesture from the Cubs, replied via email, “[I] guess that would be between them should it happen.”

Major League Baseball’s quarterly owners meetings typically cover a lot of ground, from on-field rules to MLB.com and the MLB Network to endeavors like the World Baseball Classic and much more.

This time, though? One is- sue will dominate the conversation at Thursday’s general session: the status of the negotiations for the collective bargaining agreement, which expires Dec. 1.

There remains optimism that a deal will get done in time, although commissioner Rob Manfred had said he hoped an agreement could be announced by the end of the World Series and that artificial deadline came and went.

The Blue Jays continue to monitor the free agency of slugger Edwin Encarnacion. While the team has signed switch-hitting designated-hitter Kendrys Morales for three years and $33 million, Encarnacion could still fit as the club’s first baseman.