Seven baseball posts in one day? Hell yeah we can do this!
AL East
1. Tampa Bay Rays
2013 record: 92-71 (Second place. Won tiebreaker game vs. Texas and Wild Card game vs. Cleveland. Lost ALDS vs. Boston.)
Offseason grade: A
Two things have been constant since the Rays Renaissance of 2008: winning records and offseason trades or free agent losses of prominent players. The rest of the league should be very concerned that this winter, they said "Know what? We like our team and we're gonna keep it." Hell, they even added a high-OBP catcher and another bullpen power arm. There will be stiff competition, but the Rays could hardly have had a better winter.
2. Boston Red Sox
2013 record: 97-65 (First place. Won ALDS vs. Tampa Bay, ALCS vs. Detroit, and World Series vs. St. Louis.)
Offseason grade: D+
I'm trying my best not to overreact to the Sox' dominant 2013, nor their underwhelming winter. Picking between Boston and Tampa Bay might be the hardest call in my divisional posts. The deciding factor for me was that I don't trust Will Middlebrooks or Jackie Bradley, Jr. Boston also got verrrrry lucky with their pitching last year, and Lackey/Okajima/et al will give back a few games in 2014.
New York Yankees
2013 record: 85-77 (Tied for third/fourth place)
Offseason grade: B
Am I the only one who loves it when the Yankees buy a new lineup every winter? And does anyone else love looking forward to 2019, when Brian McCann is the new Mark Teixeira, Tanaka is A.J. Burnett times two, and Ellsbury can't play center anymore but is doing so anyway? Fun times are ahead. I can't count the Yankees out of the Wild Card race this year, but I pretty much can for the entire second half of this decade.
4. Baltimore Orioles
2013 record: 85-77 (Tied for third/fourth place.)
Offseason grade: C+
Dan Duquette's winter strategy of waiting until the market sagged was a good one. I just don't think Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz are enough help to push this team back into the playoffs. I'm happy they're relevant again, and if Bundy and Machado had just managed to stay healthy, they'd be part of the discussion. But they haven't, so they aren't.
5. Toronto Blue Jays
2013 record: 74-88 (Fifth place)
Offseason grade: F
I don't understand how the Jays' front office decided to give the 2013 team another crack at it. Your team is full of injury-prone players. That is why they got injured and will likely continue to do so. That rotation just makes me sad. You're really going with Hutchinson, Morrow, AND McGowan? Do you expect them to combine for the starts of one normal pitcher, or...? The lineup makes me happy until I see the red X next to Jose Reyes's name and realize it's already begun again.
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