Baltimore Orioles (2010: 66-96):
The O's probably had the most active offseason in the AL East. They also had the most ground to cover after finishing last for the third straight year. New pickups included veterans Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero as well as infielders JJ Hardy and Mark Reynolds. Essentially the Orioles turned almost half of their batting order and it's a good thing for them. Last year's lineup posted a miserable 9 WAR combined. Yikes. The pitching benefits from the signing of Justin Duchscherer and relievers Jeremy Accardo and Kevin Gregg. Overall, the Oriole front office has shown an interest in winning this year but you can't help but look at this team as too little too late. The improvement isn't going to win a title this year and isn't sustainable enough to win in future years. In the AL East, you need to have long term homegrown talent to compete with the Sox and the Yankees and the Orioles are lacking that.
New York Yankees (2010: 95-67):
The big story of the offseason for the Yankees was the deal they didn't make. Cliff Lee shocked the world by scorning the Yankees (and the Rangers) and signing with the Phillies. This left the Yankees in a bit of lurch and made the jewel of this offseason signing catcher Russell Martin who will take the load off of Jorge Posada. Andruw Jones was also signed as a fourth outfielder and relievers Pedro Feliciano and Rafael Soriano were added as well. Overall, a disappointing offseason for the Yankees but in reality, they had so much strength in so many aspects of the game last year, not making any moves would have still left them with a very good team. Starting pitching appears to be this year's team's main weakness with the retirement of Andy Pettite but look for the Yankees to still have a very competitive team, especially come trade deadline time.
Tampa Bay Rays (2010: 96-66):
The defending AL East champs made the fewest moves out of any of the competition, inking only three new players. Former Sox and members of "The 25" Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez were added to replace Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena. Kyle Farnsworth was added to the bullpen but the rest of the Ray revisions were replaced with home grown talent. You can't help but look at this Rays team and feel like they're moving in the wrong direction. After making the World Series in 2008, the Rays have been essentially treading water each year and just getting a year older while doing it. Unless their payroll increases drastically, they won't be able to keep their home grown talent and maintain their competitive advantage. This next year seems to me like the year they lose their momentum but that may just be wishful thinking on my part.
Toronto Blue Jays (2010: 85-77):
Our sole Canadian MLB representatives are another team that seems to be just treading water but they've been doing it for nearly a decade. This last offseason saw the addition of West Coast outfielders Rajai Davis and Juan Rivera along with relievers Carlos Villanueva, Jon Rauch, and Octavio Dotel. It's hard to get excited about any of those pick ups though really and after last season, it's hard to understand what the Blue Jays front office's strategy is for becoming competitive. It's been a long time since the Blue Jays were competing for the division title and it doesn't look like this year will be any different. Maybe the strategy is to catch lightening in a bottle every year, a la Jose Bautista last year.
So there it is in a nutshell. The Sox have a good chance of taking the division with this motley crew but one thing we all learned last year was that injuries are an element than can throw any team's chances for a loop. All of this prognosticating is pointless until they've played the games after all.
T-minus 24 days till Opening Day!
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