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...

Organizational Meetings in Mesa

This week is the Cubs organizational meetings in Mesa. There are a few story lines to watch and things going on this week:

• Tom Ricketts will be at the organization meetings. Lots of media will follow him there.
• Ricketts will get his first look at Mesa. Since there's been talk of Cubs Spring Training moving to Naples, this is a big deal.
• The Arizona Fall League is in full swing. Jim Hendry is sure to check out a few games while he's there every year, and the Cubs people will get a look at guys like Castro, Cashner, and Vitters.
• Mr. Chicago Baseball Bruce Levine is down there, and I'd expect great reports from him all week long.

In the mean time, I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween and a great weekend. I also hope nobody forgot to set back their clocks yesterday. The good news: If you did forget, you didn't miss a Cubs game. That's not usually a problem with fall back if you know what I mean.

We'll have full coverage from the meetings all week long!

The Latest From the Cubs in Winter Ball

Castro Tearing it Up
Cubs short stop prospect Starlin Castro has really opened some eyes in the Arizona Fall League. Posts all over the internet in the past week read headlines like Starlin a Future Star? or Castro looks Sharp in Arizona. The fact of the matter is that Castro has been doing this for some time now. He's hitting .522 with 4 RBIs for the Mesa Solar Sox in 7 games. This season, making the jump from Daytona to Class AA Tennessee proved to be no problem, as he hit .288 in 31 games for the Smokies after hitting .302 in 96 games with the D-Cubs. Next year, on March 24, this kid will turn 20 years old. He's earning himself an invite to Spring Training, and if he produces there we could see him at AAA and even become a part of the Cubs bench in 2010 or 2011.

Castillo the Next Cubs Catcher?
If Geovany Soto has another down season, I don't think the Cubs are going to be as patient with the young backstop this time around. If Geo is not hitting by June or July, Koyie Hill will get most of the catching duties the rest of the season. And if the Cubs decide to in a different direction in 2011, then Welington Castillo could be the answer. Castillo is hitting .455 in just 3 games with Mesa, and already has a home run in just 11 ABs. Welington spent the entire year at AA, and if this guy can get his bat going (hit just .232 in 95 games), we know he can catch at the big league level in the near future.

The Shark in Mexico
Jeff Samardzija was hit hard a little bit in his last outing as he allowed 4 runs on 4 hits. However, none of the runs were earned, so his ERA stays at 1.38 in 3 Games. He is not the lone Cub on Mexicalli, as he is joined by farmhands Brian Schlitter, Matt Camp, and Brad Snyder. Camp has done a lot of lead-off hitting and plays center field. He is hitting .378 with a homer, 7 RBIs, and 6 SB so far in 10 MPL games. Brad Snyder, another outfielder, has been hitting clean up and is batting .297, 2 HR, 7 RBI. He missed a lot of the 2009 season with a wrist injury, but after coming back he hit .278 with 14 HR and 44 RBIs in 69 games at AAA-Iowa.

Mesa Solar Sox
The Mesa Solar Sox team includes farm hands from the Cubs as well as the Angels, Marlins, Twins, and Red Sox this year. They have gotten off to a little bit of a slow start, as they are 3-5, in last place in the AFL East. Phoenix is 6-2 and second place Scottsdale is just ahead of Mesa at 4-4. Besides Castillo and Castro, there are a few other Cubs playing in the AFL:

• Josh Vitters: .400 AVG, 5 games, 2 RBIs.
• Andrew Cashner: 0-1, 13.50 ERA, 1 Games
• John Gaub: 1-0, 9.00 ERA, 2 Games
• Blake Parker: 3.60 ERA in 3 Games
• James Russell: 0-1, 3.60 ERA in 3 Games
• Brian Schlitter: 5.14 ERA, 3 Saves in 7 Games

Blanco Getting Some Work in

Cubs shortstop Andres Blanco has hopes of becoming a everyday player for the Cubs in the near future. He was a key piece to the bench for much of 2009, and could be right back in that role in 2010. If Fontenot, Baker, or Theriot have an injury or struggle, he will find himself getting a lot of playing time. Blanco is in Venezuela playing for Magallanes. In 8 games he's hitting .265 with 7 RBIs. He's been playing mostly second base, which makes me wonder if that is because that is the open spot on his team or if it is because the Cubs want to see if he can play second everyday. Will Blanco have a chance to win a starting job in Spring Training?

Other VWL Updates

• J.R. Mathes is 0-1 with a 5.27 ERA in 3 starts for Caracas.
• Jonathan Mota is hitting .350 in 7 games for Aragua.

Perez in DWL

The Dominican Winter League has gotten underway, and so far the only Cub to get into game action was Nelson Perez, who's hitting .500 in 3 ABs for Toros so far. This season, the left handed hitting outfielder hit .251 in 120 games for Peoria with 11 home runs and 65 RBIs. According to different DWL rosters, guys like Carlos Zambrano, Aramis Ramriez, Esmalin Caridad, Alfonso Soriano, and more are listed to play. However, we have not seen any of these guys in game action yet or heard about them playing from any other Cubs sources.

Remember, Cubs Farm Updates Twitter has daily updates. We will be posting every Thursday all offseason long to let you know what's up in Winter Ball.