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As much as I'm sure the organization (and some fans) would like to think is the case, the Yankees are not actually the only team of importance in Major League Baseball. In fact, there are several teams in their own division and they've been making signings and trades of their own! Anyways, considering the misfortunate position the Yankees found themselves in by the end of last season I'm sure their powers that be would prefer to have blown the other AL East teams out of the water this offseason. Lets see if they've managed to succeed in doing that thus far.
Boston Red Sox
Notable acquisitions/resignings: Mike Napoli, AJ Pierzynski, Edward Mujica
Notable departures: Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Thornton, Jarrod Saltalamacchia
The Red Sox barely participated in the Jacoby Ellsbury sweepstakes and have been conservative in their signings so far. They've been as patient and content as you would expect a World Series winner to be. It looks like they'll give prospects like Xander Bogaerts the opportunity to fill in some of the roster gaps, but could possibly still retain Stephen Drew if his market remains as soft as it has been thus far. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Boston is going to much worse than they were last year.
Tampa Bay Rays
Notable acquisitions/resignings: David DeJesus, James Loney, Ryan Hanigan
Notable departures: Luke Scott None
The Rays are typically even more patient than the Red Sox, but they actually were pretty aggressive in their retention of Loney after a few years of first baseman by committee. The Rays offseason has and will continue to center around the status of ace pitcher David Price. The assumption is that he will be move via trade at some point, but you know that the team will retain him if they don't get offered a haul for him. Ideally, unlike James Shields, Price will net players that won't be able to contribute to their playoff chances almost immediately.
Baltimore Orioles
Notable acquisitions/resignings: Jemile Weeks, Grant Balfour
Notable departures: Jim Johnson. Nate McLouth, Grant Balfour
All jokes aside, the Orioles have done barely anything outside of their peculiar handling of Balfour's non-signing. The Johnson trade netted the Orioles some needed financial relief, but they may just end up putting it back into a closer like Fernando Rodney anyways. The Orioles could really use some pieces to help stay competitive in 2014 but the purse strings seem to be too tight to do much of anything.
Toronto Blue Jays
Notable acquisitions/resignings: Dioner Navarro
Notable departures: J.P Arencibia
The Jays got a much-needed upgrade at catcher in Navarro but mostly look like they'll count on fewer injuries in 2014 to improve. They have been looking to upgrade their pitching and have had outfielder Colby Rasmus on the trading block in an effort to do so. But nothing has yet come to fruition in that regard.
It's been a relatively slow offseason for the rest of the AL East. Of course, that doesn't help the Yankees much since these teams were pretty stacked with talent to begin with. It doesn't seem that any of them will be in on the Masahiro Tanaka extravaganza, so it will be a prime opportunity for the Yankees to put even more pressure on their rivals with his acquisition. Regardless, it looks like it's shaping up to be another knockdown, drag out season in the toughest division in baseball.
