Now that football is over, we get to look forward to yet another season of the national pastime, baseball.

Yes, baseball, with its ever present personalities and nostalgia. Also with its ever changing landscape with players moving on to other teams or other leagues. Let’s take a look at some of the major players from this offseason.

First off, we have the defending World Series champs, the New York Yankees.

They’ve lost a few key people, particularly pitchers Jimmy Key and John Wetteland. They signed David Wells to replace Key in the starting rotation, but he promptly broke his hand. The rest of the club’s moves weren’t that impressive.

Staying in the American League, Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf criticized rising salaries, and then went out and signed Indians free agent outfielder and occasional headache Albert Belle for five years at $55 million. That was the big news for the team this offseason. Other key moves include the signing of pitchers Jaime Navarro (from the cross-town Cubs) and Doug Drabek (from Houston), and the loss of pitchers Alex Fernandez and Kevin Tapani.

The Toronto Blue Jays, besides changing their team logo, also changed some things on the field. Their biggest move was the signing of free agent pitcher Roger Clemens from the Red Sox. Along with P Dan Plesac, OF Orlando Merced, 2B Carlos Garcia, and C Benito Santiago, the Blue Jays could be the AL’s most improved team this year.

The Oakland Athletics, though they haven’t done much, did make some noise this week when they traded for DH Jose Canseco from Boston, reuniting him with 1B Mark McGwire. However, the “Bash Brothers” probably will not do a whole lot this year, due to the constant injuries the duo have experienced over the past few years. Also, they lost catcher Terry Steinbach to his hometown Minnesota Twins, and this will hurt.

Turning now to the National League, we look first at the defending National League champion Atlanta Braves. They, for the most part, stayed the same. They lost part of their awesome pitching staff when Steve Avery jumped for more cash to the Boston Red Sox.

They did manage, however, to resign pitchers John Smoltz, Denny Neagle, Mark Wohlers, and Tom Glavine. They could face a problem next year when Glavine and Greg Maddux are eligible to be free agents.

The team that made the biggest splash this offseason in all of baseball was H. Wayne Huzienga’s Florida Marlins. Spending a total of $89 million, the Marlins picked up pitchers Alex Fernandez and Dennis Cook, outfielders Moises Alou and Jim Eisenreich, and 3B Bobby Bonilla. Not bad for new manager Jim Leyland, a refugee from the Pirates. The Marlins could be fun to watch this year.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, though quiet during most offseasons, dealt mainly with the announcement that owner Peter O’Malley is selling the team. On the field, they managed to sign 3B Todd Zeile. However, they lost 2B Delino DeShields to the Cardinals.

Let’s play ball soon.

Rob Daniel is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Zion, Ill.