WORCESTER — Although neither Bryce Brentz nor Rusney Castillo were on hand, the Pawtucket Red Sox sent some of their heaviest hitters here last Friday to meet with city officials about the possibility of the Triple-A team moving here from Rhode Island.

The PawSox contingent included chairman Larry Lucchino, vice chairman and Worcester native Mike Tamburro, executive vice president/general manager Dan Rea, senior vice president/club counsel Kim Miner, and ballpark architectural consultant and urban planner Janet Marie Smith, who is joining the PawSox’ planning and development team.

The city was represented by City Manager Ed Augustus, Mayor Joe Petty, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tim Murray, Chief Development Officer Michael Traynor and Assistant Chief Development Officer Heather Gould.

The visit included a tour of the Canal District neighborhood adjacent to the vacant Wyman-Gordon property, the site most often mentioned as a possible location for a ballpark. The PawSox, in a news release, referred to the Canal District as “bustling.”

The Pawtucket Red Sox’ current lease at McCoy Stadium runs out at the end of the 2020 season. The team believes it needs a new ballpark to replace McCoy, which is the oldest facility in Triple-A baseball and has seen significant declines in attendance for several years, even pre-dating new ownership. Studies have shown that modernizing McCoy would be about as expensive as building a new stadium.

The team, city of Pawtucket and state of Rhode Island were unable to reach an agreement on financing a new stadium in Pawtucket before June 30, the end of an exclusive negotiating window the team had agreed upon with the city and state agencies.

However, state legislative leaders and Gov. Gina Raimondo have expressed their support for keeping the team in Rhode Island, and the financing bill could be taken up in the fall. That possibility, and Worcester’s unsuccessful bid for the team in the late 1990s when McCoy had to be upgraded, have raised questions locally about PawSox ownership’s sincerity in talking to the city.

“We honored our agreement to negotiate exclusively with Pawtucket and Rhode Island,” Rea said, “and now we consider ourselves to be like baseball players who are free agents. We are free to explore any options available to us.”

Murray said the meeting was “a good preliminary conversation. We look forward to talks continuing.”

Smith’s appearance at the visit ranks as a major development. She and Lucchino worked together on building Camden Yards in Baltimore, the pacesetter for the round of “retro” ballparks. They also combined to oversee the modernization of Fenway Park.

She worked for the Red Sox from 2002 to 2009 and was most recently with the Dodgers as senior vice president for planning and development, starting there in 2012.

Further conversations between the team and the city would have to involve how to pay for the project, which has been the sticking point in Rhode Island. The most recent proposal in that state had the team contributing $45 million toward a facility that would cost about $83 million, Pawtucket and Rhode Island coming up with the rest.

Since the team announced earlier this month that it would listen to other offers, a new proposal has surfaced to have a ballpark built in East Providence, along the shores of the Providence River.

The first plan for a new ballpark in downtown Providence fell through after Lucchino and a group of investors bought the PawSox in 2015, and since, the team has been negotiating to remain in Rhode Island. Lucchino and Smith have a history of building downtown ballparks with an urban feel, and not many New England locations offer that kind of backdrop, Providence and Worcester being at the top of the list.

Since their lease at McCoy runs out in three years, the PawSox have a shrinking window of opportunity to build a new stadium, so the expectation is they will make a decision as quickly as possible.

Friday’s visit, and the inclusion of Smith in the conversation, is an indication that they are getting down to work.