John Grabow was brought in from Pittsburgh mid-season last year to fill the role that Neal Cotts failed at - lefty setup man - and had an all-around good season, helping solidify the bullpen that struggled so much in the first half. Now, as a free agent, he's in talks with the Cubs to bring him back to the North Side next season.

According to ESPN's Bruce Levine, Grabow and his agent, Paul Kinzer, are looking to sign a two-year deal worth $6.5 to $7.5 million, including a vesting option for a third year and incentives such as games played. That's a bit high for a reliever, but the Cubs should definitely consider it - Grabow is a solid left-hander, and there aren't a whole lot of those out there.

As a side note, Levine also mentions that the Cubs aren't expected to resign closer Kevin Gregg or starter Rich Harden, which will free up some payroll for deals such as Grabow's. Losing Gregg isn't a big deal - he was mediocre in '09 - but Harden is a big loss. I'm sure that the Cubs would have liked to resign him, but he would command a sizable contract and the organization just doesn't have the money for that right now.

Rangers beat writer T.R. Sullivan has a blog up this morning over at MLBlogs.com musing on the possibilities of the Rangers trading for Milton Bradley, who had a career year in Texas in 2008. According to Sullivan, the Rangers haven't ruled out bringing Bradley back and are "definitely talking about" such a transaction. The catch? The Cubs would likely have to take on most of the contract to get the Rangers involved.

The Rangers don't have anything that the Cubs truly need, and the club would be better off by not eating the remaining $21 million (the $30 million is not evenly distributed over the three years) on Bradley's contract. Unless the Cubs get an offer that blows them away, I'd rule out sending him back to Texas.

Note: This is the first in what will hopefully be an extensive series of articles that take a look at potential offseason moves and acquisitions that can improve the Cubs in 2010.

There's little doubt that Jim Hendry has been working the phones the past few weeks in search of a new home for Milton Bradley, and he'll likely be searching for another bat in the outfield provided that Bradley is taken off his hands. Acquiring a left fielder is out of the question, as Alfonso Soriano's monstrous contract ensures that he stays put for another five years, but Hendry does have more flexibility in right and center field thanks to Kosuke Fukudome's versatility.

With Bradley gone, Hendry would be free to either find another right fielder or he could move Fukudome into right and sign a center fielder. One option to consider is center fielder Marlon Byrd, who has spent the past three seasons with the Rangers. He consistently hit just below .300 with a decent slugging percentage and a solid OBP despite not drawing a lot of walks. He's also a good fielder that wouldn't handicap the Cubs defensively.

He wouldn't be overly expensive, either; he earned $3 million last season and could likely be signed for $3-5 million for two or three years. The Rangers are understandably looking to resign him, but he'd definitely be a good pickup. If Hendry decides to deal Bradley, Byrd would be a great replacement.

Cubs owner Tom Ricketts is petitioning MLB to allow Wrigley Field to host the 2014 All-Star game as a part of the field's centennial celebration, according the Chicago Tribune. If the MLB grants the request, it'll be the first time since 1990 and only the third time in history that Wrigley will have hosted the All-Star Game.

I don't see why MLB won't comply - the Cubs are one of the biggest franchises in baseball and the centennial celebration will likely be a big deal. Besides, Wrigley gets to host the game so infrequently that it's only fair to bring it back to the North Side.

From time to time, the Chicago media likes to hype various Cubs prospects, begging the eternal question of "When will this highly-touted young man finally make the leap into the Majors?" These pieces are usually cartoonishly myopic, but they are occasionally about players who do deserve a shot with the big-league squad, such as when the Chicago Tribune wrote about Jake Fox last May.

Now the Tribune, along with MLB.com's Carrie Muskat, is posing this question in regards to Starlin Castro, a talented shortstop prospect in the Cubs' system that has been tearing up the Arizona Fall League the past couple of weeks. He is currently hitting .417 with a .462 OBP and five RBI through twenty games, turning the heads of quite a few scouts in the process.

The Cubs' Franklin Font, Minor League infield coordinator, called Castro "one of those special players in baseball," while Oneri Fleita, vice president of personnel, has said that he "has put himself on the fast track to Wrigley Field." Both the Tribune and Muskat's features are full of similar praise from others within the organization and beg the question of when he'll be in Chicago.

However, should Castro be getting serious consideration to step up to the major-league level in 2010? At nineteen years old, he still has plenty of time to develop before he peaks, and the Cubs already have an abundance of middle infielders in the form of Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Jeff Baker, Aaron Miles, Andres Blanco, and Bobby Scales.

Let's also not forget the Cubs' history of hyping their big minor league prospects only to have them crash and burn in the majors (Corey Patterson, Felix Pie, etc.). Just because Castro is playing well in Fall League doesn't mean anything about his readiness to play in Chicago. He'll have plenty of time to grow and develop as a player before we need him to step in and take over a roster spot, so there's no use in rushing him along.

He'll likely get some looks during spring training, and if he somehow actually is ready to play, then he'll get his shot. However, I highly doubt that such a promising young player will be yanked out of the minors, where he gets consistent playing time, to be a reserve with a Cubs team that has plenty of options to begin with.

In case you've been without Internet or ESPN for the past few days, you're by now no doubt aware that Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa will return to St. Louis next season with a new hitting coach in tow - Mark McGwire, one of the most despicable players in the history of baseball.

How exactly McGwire, who was a .263 career hitter, will help make the Cardinals a better offensive team I'm not sure. He couldn't hit for average. He couldn't bunt. He didn't have good plate discipline. He was good at one thing and one thing only: Pounding the absolute hell out of the ball with the help of steroids "vitamins."

Besides, who doesn't love the idea of Mark McGwire coaching Lord Pujols?

But there is a quotent quotable here from general manager John Mozeliak:

"We are going to make Mark available. How he is going to answer questions is up to him."

Probably the same way he answered Congress: By not actually answering anything. At least that's better than his Dominican counterpart, who suddenly forgot how to speak in anything but gibberish.

But the point remains that McGwire is in no way qualified to coach a corporate softball team, much less an MLB team. There's nothing to suggest that he will in any way make the Cardinals' players better hitters, though they might suddenly discover how to smash fifty bombs and strike out a lot.

Tony La Russa should be ashamed for letting such a disgraceful player back into baseball, but I'm honestly not surprised that he's giving Big Mac a job. He was Mac's manager back in Oakland, where he also managed another famous cheater: Jose Canseco. I'm not entirely unconvinced that this isn't a coincidence. He's at the very least guilty of turning a blind eye to steroid use.

There's a certain sect of baseball fans that, for some inane reason, refuse to believe that McGwire and Sosa juiced. I was but a young tad back in 1998 when they embarked on their now-infamous battle to see who could shrink their testicles the most on their way to passing Roger Marris' single-season home run record, and I'm now ashamed to admit that I, like many others, failed to recognized those two men for what they are: Dirty, lying cheaters.

The bottom line is that steroid use is not acceptable under any circumstances and I've long grown tired of Bud Selig and MLB's policy of pussyfooting around the issue. If it is discovered that you ever used steroids during your career, you should be kicked out of baseball. You shouldn't be allowed to hold a job with a team. You shouldn't be allowed into the Hall of Fame. Any records or awards you obtained during your career should be stripped of you and you should be publicly condemned and humiliated by MLB. I'd even support opening up a separate wing in Cooperstown called the Hall of Shame where cheaters would forever be immortalized for what they are.

Most Cardinals fans probably won't see it this way, but for those of us who happen to be in the majority, this is simply yet another stain on the name of baseball courtesy of Tony La Russa and Mark McGwire.

The Cubs have spent their springs in Mesa, Arizona since the 50's, but it appears that they may soon be making a switch to the other side of the country - Naples, Florida - as they search for a new home to replace the aging Hohokam Stadium.

New owner Tom Ricketts and Cubs chairman Crane Kenney have made recent trips to Naples to explore possible sites for a new facility that would house a stadium, multiple practice fields, and a training complex. They also have bounced around ideas for a "Wrigley Village," which would serve as a tourist attraction for Cubs fans traveling to Naples for spring training games.

The city of Mesa, however, isn't too keen on the idea of the Cubs moving elsewhere, as mayor Scott Smith has promised to fight to keep the team in Arizona. State officials, including Senator John McCain, will personally address a Cubs delegation in hopes of keeping them in Mesa. City officials have also been compiling a list of potential sites around the city where the team could build their complex.

I personally love the idea of moving to Florida, if only for selfish reasons. I live in Arkansas and it would be an easier trip for me to go to Naples compared to going out to Mesa for spring training games. Besides, I've always loved the state of Florida (I'm a fan of Florida State athletics). I'm not going to be heartbroken if the Cubs stay in Arizona, but I like the idea of moving out east.

After missing a good chunk of August, all of September, and pretty much all of the postseason, I'm finally back in the saddle and ready to start blogging again. It's been a crazy couple of months for me as I've really been stretched thin to fulfill responsibilities with various people and groups and it has left me with no time to write about baseball.

That should change now, even though the season is over aside from the World Series. I'll be working hard in the coming months to provide plenty of coverage and analysis regarding the Cubs' offseason activity. I don't expect anything groundbreaking to go down, but it'll be interesting nonetheless to see who Jim Hendry pursues.

The big news regarding the team right now is that we have finally been un-Tribuned. Tom Ricketts has finally been granted full control of the team and is now making executive decisions about payroll, offseason acquisitions, etc. I'm thrilled to have him as the new owner - I feel better about the direction of the team with a real Cubs fan at the helm rather than an old, corporate skeleton.

What a lot fans need to realize that he's not going to be able to immediately step in and fix all our problems. No matter how much he loves the Cubs, it isn't going to change that we're paying too much money to mediocre players like Alfonso Soriano or that we don't have the cash to go after big-name free agents (an interesting cause-and-effect relationship). We'll have to continue to rely on the farm system and hope that our weaker players - who are still very talented and are capable of playing at a high level - can turn things around in 2010.

I hope that you'll stick with me this offseason - there's sure to be plenty of debate over what the Cubs should do to fix the problems that plagued the team in '09, and I'll be doing my best to provide you with the best analysis around.

Onwards!

September is here, meaning that the Cubs will be adding to their active roster over the next few days now that the roster expansion period has arrived. You can expect to see the following eight Iowa Cubs to join the big club:

• Micah Hoffpauir, 1B/OF
• Andres Blanco, SS/2B
• Bobby Scales, 2B/3B
• David Patton, RP
• Justin Berg, RP
• Jeff Samardzija, RP
• Esmailin Caridad, RP
• Jeff Stevens, RP