FORT MYERS, Fla. - So what is the status of the Theo Epstein compensation?

When you ask, you get, “I don’t know.’’

The matter is in the hands of the Commissioner’s Office, but there is no timetable on when Bud Selig is going to rule on it.

This is no small issue; it’s one that could have ramifications on future cases.

Red Sox officials seem to think they’ll know what they’ll be getting from the Cubs “before the official start of spring training.’’ But is that when pitchers and catchers report, or when the full squad shows up?

Since Epstein left his post as Sox GM to become president of baseball operations for the Cubs, the compensation issue has been a strange one.

You would think that because Epstein and new Sox GM Ben Cherington worked so closely together for so long (they were still in the same office while the Sox and Cubs were trying to work out a deal), something would have been done already. But the closeness of the relationship seems to have had the opposite effect.

It got to the point where the Sox really had to move on with their offseason and had to have a clear decision as to who was their GM. So Sox president Larry Lucchino agreed to let Epstein out of the final season of his contract with the understanding from Cubs owner Tom Ricketts that the Red Sox would receive a “significant’’ player in return.

Was a list of players the Sox deemed “significant’’ ever exchanged with the Cubs?

In the early going, the Sox gave it the old college try, asking for Matt Garza or shortstop Starlin Castro. Now that’s significant. Of course they were rebuffed.

Then all sorts of combinations were discussed, and neither side could agree on anything.

Selig threatened to take control of the matter if the sides didn’t meet a deadline. They did not.

So the Commissioner’s Office took the matter back, but there were delays because the new collective bargaining agreement was being finalized.