Taking into account yesterday's megadeal, what are your current power rankings for the AL East?

[sangar]

1. Skankers

2. Rays

3a. Jays

3b. Orioles

4. Red Sox

Rays are a known commodity. Elite pitching and good team chemistry. They looked like the best team in the league down the stretch.

Jays are improved and have a much better offense than the Rays, but throwing a bunch of random veterans onto a single roster is no guarantee for success. Romero has to re-prove himself, there are quite a few injury concerns on that team (Reyes moving to turf for one), and their bullpen is still a black hole that needs to be addressed.

Sounds about right. The Jays made some serious upgrades, but they have to prove they are better than the Orioles before I concede. As they now sit I would agree with the above rankings but without the a and b designations.

[LibertyTerp]

I have no idea who will be the best among the Rays, Jays, and Orioles. I think the Yankees will fall slightly behind. It'll be the year of youth, not big budget veterans. The AL East will be back as the best division in baseball even with the Red Sox going under .500.

Honestly as of right now I'd put the Os at 3rd, but I'm assuming we'll make a couple moves to improve the team.

[LookitsPuck]

1. Yankees

2. Rays

3. Jays

4. Orioles

5. Red Sox

With the Jays, Orioles and Red Sox all within a few games of one another.

The division is stacked.

[weams]

Orioles

Rays

Yankees

Blue Jays

Red Sox

My gut feeling is that the Yankees' run is over. Age has caught up to them unless they make some moves this winter to get more young talent. I actually fear the Rays the most. The Jays are improved but I think people are overrating the impact of yesterday's trade. Josh Johnson hasn't been as dominating a pitcher since having surgery in 2011, so to me, he has to prove that he's anything more than a no. 2-3 starter, as Buehrle is at this stage of his career. Reyes is wildly inconsistent and may not be much of an upgrade over Escobar, IMO.

By the way, I'm putting the Orioles first mostly because I'm sick of people saying they were a fluke. They're a good team and will prove it again in 2013. Whatever I say now can change based on what happens this winter, so I'm putting them at no. 1 just to make a statement. I'm not a big believer in power rankings anyway, as everyone knows.

It's you, me, and Cindy on the Buck Truck.

[Spy Fox]

I don't care to make specific rankings when we are all still figuring out our roster, but I'll just say that 2013 is going to be a VERY interesting year for this division. For a long while this year the AL East was rolling along with all five teams over .500. We might see the same next year. The Sox are the only team I'm confident in placing below the others, and even so I think a lot of people are underrating their chances of being good.

[scOtt]

My take:

1. MFY's

2. Blue Jays

3a) Rays

3b) O's

4. Red Sox

Rays have the edge on us as far as pitching is concerned obviously, but I still think it's close otherwise.

I think it's closer to this.

1. MFY

2a. TB

2b.O's

3. TOR

4 Boston

[Bosibus]

It is going to be a fun year, can't wait.

[Bradysburns]

The Yankees don't rebuild. They reload. They will use their money to buy enough players to contend.

Here's the thing - and they know this. You don't have to buy a whole new team. If you add 3 TOR starters to any team in the majors, you've got a chance to make the playoffs every season, IMO. So they only need to "buy" the starting rotation - just pluck the top 1-2 starters from the FA class each year, and blammo... fill in a few other spots with Granderson/Swisher/Ibanez types, and you got success. The thing about adding starters like CC or whoever, they don't play every day - so there's not as much of a "chemistry" question. Just bring them in, and line them up. Even the worst team in the majors would have a great chance of winning that day's game with a Roger Clemens (in his prime) on the mound.

[scOtt]

I hope the Orioles truly upgrade from a very solid team and a team that could actually get better( Bundy, Matkakis, Gausman,Schoop), a full season from Manny and better performances from pitchers

who may be turning the corner. I do however believe this team needs a real solid bat and it could be Hamilton if theyre willing to take a shot. I would now.With Hamilton, this could be an exciting and

high powered lineup. Injuries are everything of course for him and the rest of the team.

Dan has to take a step back and breathe and be smart... but if he could get Hamilton for 4 years or less (I don't care about the money - I think PA is fired up and willing to spend some) AND with filling in the question marks we have (Reynolds, Saunders, McLouth) I think we're numero uno.

[TGO]

1. Orioles

543. Rays

1,238. Yankees

1,241. Blue Jays

1,385,885. Red Sox

[El Gordo]

Last season:

Reyes .780 OPS

Bonifacio .645 OPS

Buck .644

Meh.

Buehrle and Johnson are solid SP adds, but coming back to the AL, probably neither are TOR's. BJ's have added speed and solidified their rotation, but I don't see them becoming favorites to win the division. I also see the Yankees struggling next year with age and big contracts. I take their need to stay under the luxory tax limit seriously. For me the Rays are still the best team in the division. I think they will make a deal with KC for a bat or two and be better next year.

Rays

O's/MFY

BJ's

BOS

[waroriole]

I don't see a lot of separation between the O's, Jays, Rays and MFY. Any of the 4 could win it. It depends on injuries, and who hits their higher projections.

[Dipper9]

The Jays just improved big time over last year. Every time I think the Yanks are old and done, they go on to have the best record in the AL. The Rays aren't going anywhere. I think the Sox are the only ones who we can write off for now, and as of RIGHT NOW, the O's won't duplicate last year. So RIGHT NOW, I go....

1. Yanks

2. Jays

3. Rays

4. O's

5. Sox

However, ask me again after we sign Hamilton for left, trade for Pujols for first, and platoon Davis/Reynolds as our DH's.

This crap is so much fun!

1. Roberts 2b (back and fully healthy!)

2. Kakes rf

3. Pujols 1b

4. Hamilton lf

5. Jones cf

6. Wieters c

7. Reynolds dh

8. Machado 3b

9. Hardy ss

[Aristotelian]

Rays

Orioles

Jays

Yankees

Red Sox

I don't see how you can rank the Yankees #1 at this point seeing that Swisher, Soriano, and Kuroda are free agents. They may be the best team by opening day, but right now they are Cano, Sabathia, and a bunch of other guys. I think overall the Rays are #1 with a very close call between the O's and Jays for #2. Either way it is an incredibly competitive division, and will probably be even more so once the free agents are all signed.

[TradeAngelos]

Someone tell me what these numbers are.

96

114

98

87

95

103

101

101

95

97

94

89

103

95

97

95

Anyone who thinks that Yankees are "falling off" or "too old" needs to get their head out of the sand. They still have more premium talent in the infield than most teams have on their entire roster. They averaged 97 wins over the last 16 years.

It is laughable to think this team is going to fall off down to 4th place, unless you bank on three 100 win teams ahead of them in the AL East. They will be right in the mix, like they are every single year because they buy talent and talent is what wins. That "old" roster still won 95 games without blinking last year.

1. Yankees

2. Rays

3. Blue Jays

4. Orioles

5. Red Sox.