Mesa it Is!! (Spring Training Talk and More)

It is all but settled that Chicago Cubs Spring Training will remain in the valley of the sun for years to come. The team intends to keep their Spring Training facilities in Mesa, Arizona pending rather than move to Naples, Florida after the current contract with Mesa. The decision to stay is pending a vote by the Mesa city council, which will take place Monday night to improve the team's Cactus League facility.

David Kaplan and the Chicago Tribune reported this story first today, then Bruce Levine added that the new facilities will most likely be 7-8 miles east of the current Cub spring home, HoHoKam Park. If Arizona cannot come up with the money for this project, the Cubs are expected to resume talks with Naples. The new state of the art stadium will include a Wrigleyville atmosphere and and a 15,000-18,000 capacity, which would make it the largest Spring Training park.

The East Valley Tribune's full coverage.

While we're talking about Cubs' Spring Training, let's take a look at WGN Radio's 2010 Spring Training broadcast schedule. Cubs Central Pregame starts 35 minutes prior the the first pitch of each game, and all times are central:

• Thursday March 4 VS Oakland 2:05
• Saturday March 6 VS White Sox 2:05
• Tuesday March 9 VS Milwaukee 2:05
• Tuesday March 16 VS Texas 3:05
• Friday March 19 @White Sox 3:05
• Saturday March 20 VS Kansas City 3:05
• Sunday March 21 @Reds 3:05
• Friday March 26 VS Oakland 3:05
• Saturday March 27 VS San Diego 3:05
• Thursday April 1 VS Rockies 3:05
• Saturday April 3 @Arizona @Chase Field 3:10

According to Bruce Miles, the Cubs have signed catcher Mark Johnson and third baseman Scott McClain to minor league deals with invites to Spring Training. Johnson was in Cubs' Spring Training last year, and ended up playing in 22 games at AAA Iowa. Mark was drafted by the White Sox organization and has spent time in the big leagues. This won't be the first trip to Mesa for McClain either. Scott has been in Spring Training with the Cubs before, and he saw 13 games with them during the 2005 regular season, going 2-14. After playing in the Giants organization for a few years, he played in Japan for most of '09. As a backup third baseman, he could make the club if he plays well in camp.

More Rumor Updates:

• Paul Sullivan reports that the Cubs have an eye on free agent outfielder Jonny Gomes.
• The Sun-Times says that they've contacted Gomes.
• The Cubs are also interested in Jermaine Dye, Reed Johnson, and Rick Ankiel and Xavier Nady.
• The Padres and Blue Jays are dangling relievers that the Cubs have interest in. Levine says that the Padres might talk to the Cubs about closer Heath Bell, while Luke Gregorson and Blue Jay Jason Frasor have also been discussed.

Please vote on our new poll on the right sidebar (yes, finally it's up!). We're close to finishing off our Cubs' all decade team, so we encourage everyone to vote on the best Cub closers of the last decade. I included all guys that had 5 or more saves as choices. Thanks to everyone who voted on the last poll.

Speaking of the right sidebar, notice that our countdown has been change from the Cubs Convention, to the day Pitchers and Catchers report. As of now, the start of the baseball season is just 27 days, 14 hours, 57 minutes and 20 seconds away- 19, 18, 17...

Baseball is right around the corner!