Day 1 of the Organizational Meetings Roundup

Notes from the Chicago Tribune:

• One player the Cubs are interested in is Akinori Iwamura. Iwamura is a left handed hitting second baseman.
• New Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts will introduce himself to the baseball operations department personnel at the meetings.
• He also will meet with Mesa city officials and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to talk about keeping Cubs Spring Training in Arizona. According to the Tribune, nothing will be decided this week.
• The meetings run today through Friday.
• Other things on the Cubs list: 1. Re-signing John Grabow in the 2 week window after the World Series, 2. Trying to find a lead-off hitter speed, and 3. trying to find a corner outfielder with power.

Bruce Levine's notes from Mesa:

• According to Bruce Levine, "plans are already in motion on the business front."
• Ricketts and family met the baseball side of the organization for the first time today.
• Tonight Tom will meet 90 people in baseball operations Tuesday night at the team's hotel in Mesa at a meet-and-great dinner.
• Tomorrow the Ricketts family will spend most of the day looking at possible sites for a new Cubs spring training home.
• On Thursday, the meetings will move to Ho-Ho-Kam Park, where the baseball operations people will have a lunch and watch top Cub prospects play in the Arizona Fall League.

Arizona Fall League All Star Rosters have been announced! The "Rising Stars Showcase" will be on the MLB Network on Saturday night. Josh Vitters, Starlin Castro, and Andrew Cashner are the 3 Cubs farm hands that were named to the team, but Cashner will not be able to participate. Looking forward to seeing Vitters and Castro playing on TV on Saturday!

Ricketts wants to keep the Cubs in the top 3 payrolls in baseball.

More from Mesa tomorrow...