I suppose it's been a pretty good week for the Chicago Cubs ... though there's a ton of work left to be done if the Cubs want to get back in a position to contend for a championship.

Both of the moves the Cubs made this week made sense to me. One was to re-sign left-handed reliever John Grabow to a two-year, $7.5-million contract. Grabow is one of the few Cubs who pitched in late relief last season that I trust in that capacity going forward. He's not especially adept at getting left-handed hitters out, as was one other southpaw that got a sizeable deal from the team a few years back, Mike Remlinger.

Having said that, Grabow is a guy that can pitch to both lefties and righties. He was outstanding at getting everybody out in the two months or so after coming over from Pittsburgh, compiling a 3.24 ERA in 30 games. He's got a 4.03 career ERA and will join Angel Guzman and Esmailin Caridad in setting up closer Carlos Marmol.

One guy who won't be setting up Marmol in 2010 is Aaron Heilman, who was traded this week to Arizona for prospects. It's a good decision given that the new Cubs ownership isn't letting general manager Jim Hendry spend money like a drunken sailor anymore. Heilman would have gotten an estimated $2 million in arbitration in a few weeks. He certainly didn't earn my trust while pitching for the Cubs last season — though his ERA wa a solid 4.11 in 70 games — so that money can be spent better elsewhere.

The next move appears to be moving disgruntled outfielder Milton Bradley, which is another move I would be very much in support of. The latest rumor has Bradley going back to Texas as part of a three-team deal that would bring current New York Mets second baseman Luis Castillo to Chicago. Castillo, a switch hitter with speed, would be a nice fit for the Cubs, but some sources are saying the trade won't happen.

Zack Greinke justly won the American League Cy Young award earlier this week. I'm not so sure Tim Lincecum of San Francisco deserved his second straight win in the NL, which he received today.

Chris Carpenter, who was my pick for the award, was probably hurt by the spectacular season his St. Louis teammate, Adam Wainwright, also produced. Wainwright actually led all NL pitchers in first-place votes received, while Carpenter finished second overall in the voting, with Wainwright third. I'm not normally too upset to see bad things happen to the Cardinals, but I do believe that Carpenter was more deserving than Lincecum of the award.

Carpenter made four fewer starts than Lincecum, but still won more games, going 17-4 to Lincecum's 15-7. In ERA, Carpenter also had an edge, as his league-low 2.24 was better than Lincecum's 2.48. Carpenter allowed just 38 walks in 192.2 innings pitched to the 68 Lincecum surrendered in 225.1 innings of work, though Lincecum had a lower opponents' batting average (.206 to .226). Lincecum's one very substantial advantage was in strikeouts, of which he compiled 261 to Carpenter's 144.

At least the voters got it right in the AL, where Greinke won easily. I thought his low total of 16 wins might hurt his chances, but the voters didn't penalize him for pitching for a terrible Royals team. His 2.16 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 242 strikeouts in 229.1 innings made him the best pitcher in the league, and the voters designated him as such.

A few observations from the most enjoyable Sunday and Monday in a while ... because we didn't have to watch Chicago play.

- My initial reaction to New England coach Bill Belichick's much-debated decision to go for it Sunday night on fourth and short in Indianapolis territory was that he'd lost his mind. The more I think about it, maybe he wasn't so crazy, even though it didn't work out. Punting still gave Peyton Manning and the Colts a chance to beat his Patriots - and a very good chance, given the way New England's defense was playing. Had Tom Brady and the Patriots been able to pick up the first down — you'd expect them to have a very good chance at doing so — they win the game almost 100 percent of the time. Peter King of Sports Illustrated was among those who did a good job of breaking down the pros and cons of the decision. I'm not sure I agree with King, but there's no question that the Colts' 35-34 victory was one of the most exciting regular-season games I've ever seen.

- So much for Green Bay being as bad as the Bears ... I think. One week after losing to hapless Tampa Bay, the Packers bounced back for a 17-7 defeat of red-hot dallas. The Packers looked as strong defensively as they did in their opening-night win over the Bears. I still don't trust Aaron Rodgers to make plays behind his awful offensive line, but if Charles Woodson, Nick Barnett and the defense play like they did Sunday the rest of the way, the Packers could still steal a wild card berth into the playoffs.

- One team that I'm certain is the real deal is Cincinnati. The Bengals' defense was every bit as impressive as the Packers' in their 18-12 victory over Pittsburgh that gave them control of the AFC North. Cedric Benson being out for any length of time could hurt the Bengals, though they signed former Kansas City star Larry Johnson today. Assuming their running game continues to be solid, there is an awful lot to like about the Bengals. Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco are the key components of a capable passing game, and the defense might be the best one in a division that includes the Steelers and Baltimore.

- If his team didn't start so poorly, Chris Johnson of Tennessee would have to get some serious Most Valuable Player attention. He's certainly the MVP of fantasy football through 10 weeks. Johnson had another fantastic day in the Titans' 41-17 defeat of Buffalo, running for 132 yards and two touchdowns and also totaling 100 receiving yards. For the season, Johnson is averaging 6.4 yards per carry. He's got a total of 1,091 rushing yards, 262 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.

Chicago fared no better in baseball's Rookie of the Year award voting than it did on the diamond itself in 2009.

I picked Andrew Bailey of Oakland and J.A. Happ of Philadelphia as the best rookies in their respective leagues this season, but I thought a Cub and a White Sox each had a compelling case. I thought Gordon Beckham would at least merit very strong consideration in the American League, and that Cubs hurler Randy Wells would get some support in the National. Bailey was named the top rookie in the AL, it was announced today, and Chris Coghlan of Florida took the honors in the senior circuit.

Beckham finished a distant fifth in the AL, while Wells did not crack the top 5 in the NL. Beckham wasn't even the top infielder, as Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus was second overall. A pair of starting pitchers, Rick Porcello of Detroit and Jeff Niemann of Tampa Bay, also finished higher in the voting than Beckham.

Meanwhile, Coghlan did have a very nice season as an outfielder for the Marlins, hitting .321 with nine home runs, 84 runs, 47 RBI and 31 doubles in 128 games. Happ, who was the only NL player named on every ballot, finished a close second in the voting. Tommy Hanson of Atlanta, Andrew McCutchen of Pittsburgh and Casey McGehee of Milwaukee rounded out the top five spots in the NL.

Since none of the Big Ten Conference teams has any shot at winning college football's national championship, I'm left rooting for the little guys.

In other words, my hope for the championship is that someone other than the same old big schools wins. It's always a long shot for schools like TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State that aren't in major conferences to get a fair shake at any BCS bowls, let alone in the championship game. And even after TCU beat 16th-ranked Utah 55-28 yesterday to move to 10-0, the Horned Frogs and the others need help.

Fellow unbeatens Florida, Alabama and Texas all remain ahead of TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State in the updated BCS standings released today. None of them have potential dazzling wins left on their schedules. That means they'll all be reliant on two of the Big Three losing the rest of the way to have a shot.

Texas has Kansas and Texas A&M remaining on its schedule. In other words, the Longhorns aren't losing. Alabama will face Florida Dec. 5 in the SEC championship. Neither should lose before then. In other words, barring something crazy happnening, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State are unfortunately out of luck.