Just a week after the St. Louis Cardinals finished winning the 2011 World Series the MLB offseason is already off to a hot start.

In player transaction news, the Braves quickly moved the under performing Derek Lowe to the Cleveland Indians for a minor league player and $5 million in salary relief. The Braves were forced to eat two thirds of Lowe’s contract but having $5 million back gives them some flexibility, especially since Lowe wasn’t slated to be in the Braves 2012 rotation.

The Yankees quickly made a big move as well; locking up CC Sabathia for another five years after he was one of the team’s few reliable starters in 2011. Sabathia had an opt-out clause in his previous contract, and the Yankees didn’t want to head into free agency with a rotation featuring Ivan Nova and A.J. Burnett.

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Moving into the front office, where a number of notable moves have been made, the Yankees brought back General Manger Brian Cashman for another three years.

Tony LaRussa’s retirement a few days after winning the World Series was just one of a handful of managerial moves.

Terry Francona and Theo Epstein both left Boston before the World Series was over, but the Cubs (who got Epstein) are continuing to make changes. Mike Quade was fired so that the Cubs can get a fresh start under Epstein and it appears Epstein may be going after Francona.

While the baseball offseason typically starts off slow this season has been an exception. Sabathia could have been the biggest pitcher on the free agent market which now looks incredibly thin at his position.

Other playoff contenders will look to either resign or replace stars Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and Jimmy Rollins. In a notably thin pitching market, C.J. Wilson could fetch a huge amount of money and some team may be willing to shell out a boatload of cash to bid on Yu Darvish, the Japanese prospect pictured here.

After a thrilling stretch run that saw two teams make the playoffs on the last day and a terrific World Series, baseball’s offseason is off to a hot start and should keep things interesting all winter.

Used with permission of the author.

Brett is the editor and a contributor for www.BravesFTW.com. He has covered MLB and the Braves for numerous websites and is a regular contributor to Sports Climax. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2011 Sports Climax, LLC

As the MLB season is gearing up, the biggest news coming into the Chicago Cubs spring training surrounds their new  manager, Mike Quade. Cubs players like and respect Quade as was evident when a group of them publically supported him over fan favorite Ryne Sandberg.

Quade realizes that the performance of the Cubs in the last six weeks of last season after he took the reins from Lou Piniella didn’t make a whole season and there’s a lot of work ahead of him and the team.

Unlike Piniella, Quade is showing he isn’t afraid to manipulate the roster especially if players are under performing, sick or injured. Last week, Carlos Zambrano had a sore wrist. Instead of taking Z out of the game, Quade kept him on the mound but inserted a DH and we all know how Z loves to bat.

As covered in an earlier article in my Examiner column, Quade is the 51st manager of the Cubs. He is home grown, born and raised in the Chicago area as a Cubs fan, so he knows the culture surrounding the team and has experienced the fans’ frustration when it comes to talking about the elusive World Series. These are things his predecessors Dusty Baker and Piniella couldn’t grasp but Quade lived it.

In addition to having the trust of his players, Quade has formed a solid pitching staff that includes starters Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Garza and fan favorite Kerry Wood who is expected to be the set-up man for closer Carlos Marmol.  In addition to Marmol, Sean Marshall and John Grabow should help anchor the bullpen.

Chicago’s infield does have a huge hole at second base that needs to be addressed but for now that job likely will go to Darwin Barney. Third and first positions are all but locked with newcomer Carlos Pena looking to step into Derrek Lee’s spot at first and Aramis Ramirez filling the opposite side of the infield.

In the outfield Quade is expected to open the season with Kosuke Fukudome in right Marlon Byrd in center and Alfonso Soriano in left.

Although this year’s Cubs team isn’t projected to make it to the post season, being in a weak division with other teams losing their starting pitchers to injuries, the team, if they stay healthy, could contend. That would bring some relief to Cubs fans who are stuck in a record-setting drought for a World Series.

Used with permission of the author.

Miriam Romain is a Chicago-based sportswriter and national columnist covering the Chicago Cubs for Examiner.com. The Windy City native is also the Associate Editor for SBNation Chicago and has been published in the Maple Street Press Cubs annuals. In her free time, Romain is working on a book titled “Summers At Wrigley With My Dad.”

Copyright © 2011 Sports Climax, LLC