In today’s Trib, Teddy Greenstein reports that WSCR’s morning man Mike North is taking a day off on Monday, which isn’t really news, except that North’s contract with the CBS sports talker is up for renewal in a little over a week:

After being asked whether he was seeking leverage in negotiations, North seemed to confirm that but also said: “As far as I’m concerned, they basically want me to take some time off.”

Asked whether that means he had been suspended, North declined to elaborate.

The prospects for North’s return to the Score seem pretty slim, at this point. North’s seven-figure deal has left him a marked man by CBS bosses who have not been impressed with his numbers in morning drive.

North is angling for a new deal close to his existing one, but reports have Score execs extending him a only a two-year deal in the $800,00 a year range.

If the Score were to part ways with station mainstay North, chances are that they’ll elevate Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley from mid-days to mornings. That move might only last until 2010 when they could make a move for WMVP’s Dan McNeil, who formerly called the Score home.

Meanwhile, North has been spotted at 190 N. State St., presumably talking with either WLS-AM or WMVP-AM about coming onboard. WLS will have a choice to make shortly, as their longtime husband-and-wife duo of Don Wade and Roma will be reaching the end of their current contract in November.