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

[DrungoHazewood]

1. NYY

2. TB

3. TOR

-All 3 playoff teams

4. BOS

5. O's

I don't think you get an award for Most Pessimistic Poster. But take comfort in the fact that you would if such a thing existed.

[Orange_Crush]

What odds did those "experts" give us last year? And by the way, I doubt too many "experts" are putting their money on the line on November 14, with most of the offseason still to come.

Theres always a surprise team in sports. Nobody except for a delusional type fan gave them a shot last year. Hell, I am a realist. I was just awaiting for the crumble in the 2nd half while enjoying it all.

[Orange_Crush]

I don't think you get an award for Most Pessimistic Poster. But take comfort in the fact that you would if such a thing existed.

Not sure how that makes me pessimistic, but okay. The Yankees are the Yankees. The Rays have the best pitching. Toronto won 71 games with not much Bautista and is getting half a new lineup/rotation. They weren't bad last year and just improved their roster. Boston has the cash and if they get Napoli thats a great start. Having 5 winning teams is unrealistic but it's going to be competitive, sorry if I don't take the homer approach. I mean the difference between the 4 many are picking and my 5 is minimal, at the end of the day it's still no playoffs.

[MachadOboutManny]

Wonder how Pineda comes back for NY.

TB

NYY

TOR

BALT

BOSTON

[El Gordo]

+1

The Yankees will be fine.

Which of these players is likely to have a better season next year than last. None IMO.

Jeter

ARoid

Teix

Pettitte

CC

MO

Hughes

Nova

I think the MFY can count on good years from Granderson, and Cano, and maybe Gardner

They need to add a TOR SP and upgrade RF, their pen, and C.

[MachadOboutManny]

Tor will go as the health of Morrow and Johnson go.

[DrungoHazewood]

Not sure how that makes me pessimistic, but okay. The Yankees are the Yankees. The Rays have the best pitching. Toronto won 71 games with not much Bautista and is getting half a new lineup/rotation. They weren't bad last year and just improved their roster. Boston has the cash and if they get Napoli thats a great start. Having 5 winning teams is unrealistic but it's going to be competitive, sorry if I don't take the homer approach. I mean the difference between the 4 many are picking and my 5 is minimal, at the end of the day it's still no playoffs.

Not just that post, it's kind of a career award.

[Loophole]

Which of these players is likely to have a better season next year than last. None IMO.

Jeter

ARoid

Teix

Pettitte

CC

MO

Hughes

Nova

I think the MFY can count on good years from Granderson, and Cano, and maybe Gardner

They need to add a TOR SP and upgrade RF, their pen, and C.

And they will. IMO they could be the frontrunners for Stanton next year. Maybe this year. The Yankees will get younger as soon as they need to.

[AgentOrange]

Keep in mind, TOR now was zero payroll flexibility. That will mean something as the overpaid players they just acquired land on the DL

[MachadOboutManny]

Keep in mind, TOR now was zero payroll flexibility. That will mean something as the overpaid players they just acquired land on the DL

They have zero payroll flexibility, true. That would be more exciting if the players they were paying were not good. Toronto went above what people expected them to already and they landed themselves difference makers. I would love to have seen the Orioles give up a similar package of crap to acquire those players at the risk of losing, "payroll flexibility".

[AgentOrange]

They have zero payroll flexibility, true. That would be more exciting if the players they were paying were not good. Toronto went above what people expected them to already and they landed themselves difference makers. I would love to have seen the Orioles give up a similar package of crap to acquire those players at the risk of losing, "payroll flexibility".

No payroll flexibility is a real problem when you acquire guys like Johnson that land on the DL, and have guys like Reyes and Buerhle that will underperform their contract by a wide margin.

[Frobby]

They have zero payroll flexibility, true. That would be more exciting if the players they were paying were not good. Toronto went above what people expected them to already and they landed themselves difference makers. I would love to have seen the Orioles give up a similar package of crap to acquire those players at the risk of losing, "payroll flexibility".

You know what? I'm tired of people assuming that whatever other teams do, it is better than what the Orioles are doing. The Blue Jays haven't been to the playoffs since 1993. They won 73 games last year. I refuse to act as if 2012 never happened. We had a better season than any season Toronto has had in 19 years. So far as I'm concerned, Dan and Buck know what they're doing until proven otherwise.

[Dark Helmet]

Keep in mind, TOR now was zero payroll flexibility. That will mean something as the overpaid players they just acquired land on the DL

That's not true according to Tim Kierkjen. Roger's Communication is huge, with multi billions of dollars. They are in a win now mode, and money is no object.

[tntoriole]

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.

Exactly, this!

[MachadOboutManny]

No payroll flexibility is a real problem when you acquire guys like Johnson that land on the DL, and have guys like Reyes and Buerhle that will underperform their contract by a wide margin.

They may under perform their contract, they may not. Reyes is a year removed from a batting title. Johnson is a risk, most stud SPs are. Greinke comes with his own set of risks, but we'll take him. I much prefer the Josh Johnson sort of risk compared to the Arrieta sort of risk; just a personal preference I suppose. Josh Johnson could be traded in 8 seconds for a significant haul if Tor wanted to rid themselves of that risk and give themselves more payroll flexibility.

The Blue Jays made a great trade. They're being aggressive and they gave up nothing but cash to get a boatload of proven talent. They will have speed and power in the lineup and if Romero bounces back, they have a deep and talented rotation. They became much better than Baltimore in the snap of 2 fingers. Its hard not to be envious of a team that just made deal such as this one.

Even Bonafacio can play. They did well for themselves.