on the SIDELINES

CHICAGO -- Moises Alou might not be roaming left field at Wrigley Field anymore.\nThe Chicago Cubs declined an $11.5 million mutual option on the outfielder Thursday and will pay him a $2.5 million buyout. The Cubs also declined a $2.5 million option on second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, paying him a $250,000 buyout instead.\nThe decisions hardly come as a surprise. Alou led the team with a career-high 39 homers and 106 RBIs -- the fifth time in his career he's topped 100 RBIs -- and said he wanted to come back to Chicago next year. But the Cubs are looking for a younger and cheaper option than the 38 year old as they remake their roster after a late-season collapse that cost them a spot in the playoffs.\n"It's up to the front office," Alou said at the end of the season. "To go somewhere else is going to be tough."\nAlou hit .283 with 76 home runs and 258 RBIs in three seasons with the Cubs. He's a career .300 hitter, with 278 homers and 1,092 RBIs, and is a four-time All-Star. He also has a World Series ring from 1997, when he hit three homers and drove in nine runs in Florida's victory over Cleveland.\nGrudzielanek hit .307, but he missed most of the first two months of the season with inflammation in his right Achilles' tendon, and only played 81 games. The Cubs will either look for a new second baseman or bring back Todd Walker, who was stellar as a fill-in for Grudzielanek and will be looking for a job as a starter next year. Walker, also eligible to become a free agent, hit .247 with 15 homers and 50 RBIs.