Warming up: Sizing up the AL East competition this season

The AL East is baseball's toughest division, and not even a $500 million spending-spree can guarantee that the Yankees have a real shot to win the division this season.

They added Brian McCann to upgrade offensively behind the plate; added Masahiro Tanaka as a much needed arm in the starting rotation; brought in Jacoby Ellsbury to bring speed and a lot of potential to the lineup; and signed Carlos Beltran as a veteran bat, who's switch-hitting abilities help create flexibility in the daily lineup.

Monday night, the Baltimore Orioles can to an agreement with Ubaldo Jimenez, just hours after announcing the signing of Suk-min Yoon.

Even though their offseason was a wash, in my mind, its hard to overlook them as the contender that they have been the past two seasons.

The Boston Red Sox didn't make any major moves this winter, but they didn't really need to. They were the defending World Series champions. Being a championship team means that everything was already working well, so why change it.

They will come into the season as the favorites to win the division again, unless the Yankees stay healthy, or the Tampa Bay Rays have the success that I think they can have in 2014.

Adding Grant Balfour and Heath Bell to the bullpen is a plus. Bell hasn't been great in a couple of years since he was with the San Diego Padres, but the Rays have always had success turning around a player's career, and I'm sure Bell with just be another to add to the list.

With Jimenez off the board, it's down to the Toronto Blue Jays to do what they need to do to get a deal done with Ervin Santana, who seems to be drawing interest from no one else. Not the Blue Jays have a great chance to win the division this year, you can cross them off immediately if they don't land Santana. They did nothing worth noticing this winter.

The AL East goes down the the wire just about every year, and nothing about this past offseason suggests that 2014 will be anything different.

Yankees links worth sharing:

* CC Sabathia lost a lot of weight this offseason, and is using ties to Andy Pettitte to believe that his decreased velocity will have no effect on his ability to be a dominant pitcher moving forward. Also, Larry Rothschild talks about a new pitching drill, and there could be a sleeper candidate in the bullpen competition.

* Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long made some comments to the New York Daily on Sunday that he didn't like the way Robinson Cano hustled on the field, but in reality, the Yankees are going to miss everything about him, even his effort.

* With one more great season, Derek Jeter could walk away from the game with the 5th most hits all-time by a Major Leaguer.

Today's warm-up song: "Hustlin" by Rick Ross. Get it? Because Cano didn't hustle. I don't listen to rap music -- and never will -- but I thought it would be funny to use this with Long's comments being a hit topic lately.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (below).

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Yankees' rotation shaping up nicely with Masahiro Tanaka in the mix

It's official. He's coming. Masahiro Tanaka is coming to New York just like you wanted, all for the price of $155 million over seven-years.

We had been talking about it all throughout the offseason, that the Yankees needed to add at least one starting pitcher in order to actually contend next season, with Tanaka being the top target. They wanted him badly, and now they got him.

With Tanaka in the rotation, there is no long so many questions surrounding the Yankees' starting five. In fact, there aren't many questions at all.

On paper, the Yankees' will open the season with a rotation of CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Tanaka, Ivan Nova, and who ever wins the battle for the fifth spot during spring training -- if he comes in healthy, I'd give Michael Pineda the best chance to win the job.

And that applies to the rest of the rotation, too. Sabathia will be the biggest question mark of the bunch coming into the season.

Coming off the elbow surgery, Sabathia lost a few miles per hour on his velocity, and never seemed capable of making the adjustment to being a high-80's, low-90's pitcher, rather than being the mid-to-high 90's guy that everybody knew him as.

I don't want to state the obvious here, but I believe that had a lot to do with his career-worst season. A lot of people tried to blame it on the fact that he had lost quite a bit of weight during the offseason, and that's why he wasn't the same guy on the mound, but I don't buy it.

If you've seen the pictures that have been going viral around social media, you can see that Sabathia has lost even more weight this winter, some have estimated about 40 pounds.

I think that being a year removed from the surgery will be very good for him. He knows how bad last season was, and he is going to come back in 2014 looking to prove everyone wrong. I'm not saying that he'll be the ace of the staff one again, but a top of the rotation starter is all you can really ask for at this point in a pitchers career -- especially one that has logged as many innings as Sabathia.

With Kuroda, you pretty much know what you're going to get. He's a 39-year-old pitcher that is going to give you a lot of innings. You going to attack hitters, and he's going to get outs when he needs them. He's been very good for the Yankees in his two seasons in the Bronx, and really stepped up last season when the team needed him. Sure he broke down towards the end, but that doesn't make him a bad pitcher.

Because of all of this, and the fact that Joe Girardi likes to use his veteran guys, I think that Kuroda has earned the right to be the team's second starter, even with Tanaka, who will probably slide right behind him in the third spot.

Obviously Tanaka is going to come in with a lot of weight on his shoulder. He just got paid a massive amount of money, and you know that Yankees fans are expecting to pitch like he's worth $155 million.

A lot of scouts have compared him to Yu Darvish, and some have said that he'll be a second or third starter at best. The game is a lot different in American compared to Japan, and if Tanaka is able to be a second or third starter for the length of his contract, I'd say the Yankees did just fine in paying him what they did.

Nova has the potential to team up with Tanaka in a couple of years to create one of the best one-two combinations in the game. He broke into the leagues in 2011 and really showed what kind of pitcher he can be.

But we didn't see much of the greatness again until the second half of the 2013 season, when he came back from injury and spent some time in the minors, then got his chance in July and took off. He was fantastic in August, earning AL Pitcher of the Month honors after going 5-0 with an ERA under 2.00. If he could pitch just under, at least, the level he is capable of pitching, then the Yankees will have the best fourth starter in the game. Realistically, there aren't many fourth starters as talented as Nova.

Then that's where you reach the fifth and final spot in the rotation. Like I said above, I really think this will be Michael Pineda's job to lose. The Yankees were hoping that he would be the future ace of the staff, but injuries have kept him from throwing even one official pitch for them.

Luckily for the Yankees, giving up Jesus Montero hasn't worked out well for the Seattle Mariners, either, so at least they didn't lose much, technically.

Pineda was an all-star with the Mariners in 2011, and if he can come back to be at least half of that, you have to be very, very happy if you're the Yankees. A fifth starter should only be able to get you some quality starts here and there, and basically serves as an extra rest day for the top of the rotation starter, at least in my opinion. But if the Yanks can get something good out of him, the rotation will be extremely dangerous.

Even after saying all of this, I still think that the Yankees will have quite the competition in competing with the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East next season.

The Red Sox just won the World Series, and even though they didn't get a lot better -- I mean, how much better can a World Series champ get? -- but they didn't really get worse, either. And the Rays are the Rays.

They're going to put a decent team on the field, and Joe Madden is going to make every player much better than they actually are, just like he always does. And let's not forget to mention that Tampa will always be attacking you with their very talented young pitcher staff, led by David Price and Alex Cobb.

No matter how much offense you bring to the table, you need a solid pitching staff in order to win a championship. With the signing of one player, yes, just one player, the Yankees suddenly have that solid pitching in their rotation, and they're ready to be a playoff team once again.

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Keeping Tabs on the Enemies: January 5th

We are about two months into free agency, but the hot stove is just heating up. Some teams in the AL East look completely different, while others look about the same. Let's take a look at who has taken a step forward and who has taken a step back this offseason thus far.

Boston Red Sox: They have gotten slightly worse. Overall, the defending champions look similar to how they looked last year.

Their pitching remains the same, but they lost their starting center fielder, catcher, and likely shortstop in Jacoby Ellsbury, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Stephen Drew. As of now, replacing those three players are Jackie Bradley Jr., AJ Pierzynski, and Xander Bogaerts. Bradley Jr is a nice looking player, but he is no Ellsbury. Shane Victorino had a great season in 2013, but is likely to regress, so their outfield, as a whole, has taken a step back.

In the infield, they have Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia, Bogaerts, and Will Middlebrooks. You can't expect the injury-prone Napoli to have a healthy season again as he played over 115 games for only the second time in his career.

You know what you are getting in Pedroia. Middlebrooks is likely to improve a little bit, but the key is Bogaerts. He could potentially be a lot better than Drew, or he could be worse. Having a young, inexperienced shortstop could hurt them. Behind the plate, going from Saltalamacchia to Pierzynski isn't a downgrade or an upgrade.

Baltimore Orioles: They have taken a step back. After finishing third in the AL East standings with a record of 85-77, many thought the Orioles would finally make a big splash to take that next step. So far, that just hasn't happened. 

They lost their starting left fielder in Nate McLouth, and have Reimold in left field right now. Jason Hammel, who has been one of their best starting pitchers the past couple years, is currently a free agent. They lost Jim Johnson, who I on of the best closers In the league and had 50 saves last season. Brian Roberts is now with the Yankees, but Ryan Flaherty is just as good as him and a lot younger. 

Overall, they lost their closer, a starting pitcher, their starting left fielder, and Roberts. Who did they bring in to make up for those losses? Jemile Weeks.

Toronto Blue Jays: The Jays, who finished last in the AL East this past season, haven't gotten better or worse. 

They have upgraded a little bit at the catching position, going from JP Arencibia to Dioner Navarro. It is a downgrade in terms of power but Navarro had a much higher OBP than Arencibia. 

They have gone from being bad at second base, to being bad at second base. Last season, they had Mark Derosa and Kawasaki. Right now, they have Ryan Goins. They lost Josh Johnson, who signed with the Padres, but he had a terrible season so that isn't much of a loss.

The Jays still need to add a starting pitcher before the winter if over, and it's been looking like one of Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana could be the guy that get.

Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays finished second in the AL East last season. They have gotten slightly better. 

They have gone from Fernando Rodney to Heath Bell at closer. Rodney struggled last season, but he still had a better season than Heath Bell. Bell had 15 saves and 7 blown saves last season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, so right now, they have a question mark at closer. 

Going from Jose Lobaton/Jose Molina at catcher to Ryan Hanigan is a big upgrade. Hanigan struggled last season, but he has a career .359 OBP and will probably have a bounce back season in Tampa. Young players such as Desmond Jennings and Will Myers will likely improve as they have another season under their belt.

New York Yankees: The Yankees who finished third in the AL East last season, improved as much as anyone in baseball. 

They have gone from a lineup of Brett Gardner-Ichiro Suzuki-Robinson Cano-Lyle Overbay-Vernon Wells-Travis Hafner-Eduardo Nunez-Jayson Nix- Chris Stewart, to Ellsbury-Derek Jeter-Carlos Beltran-Mark Teixeira-Brian McCann-Alfonso Soriano-Kelly Johnson-Roberts-Gardner.

They are still waiting for the A-Rod decision and could possibly sign Mark Reynolds. But even now, that lineup looks a whole lot deeper this season than last season. 

Losing the best second baseman in baseball in Cano is a tough blow, but the depth of the current lineup should make up for it. 

Their success this upcoming season weighs heavily on the health of Jeter and Teixeira. 

In the pitching department, they have gone from Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes, and Mariano Rivera to David Phelps, Michael Pineda, and David Robertson. Signing Masahiro Tanaka or another big name starting pitcher could make the pitching staff better than last year. 

Losing the greatest closer of all time in Rivera is a big loss, but having Robertson step up or signing Grant Balfour or another veteran with closing experience will help lessen that loss.

The Yankees still have some big moves that they will make, and other teams will make some changes, but if the season started tomorrow, here are my AL East standings predictions:

1. Rays, 2. Red Sox, 3. Yankees, 4. Blue Jays, 5. Orioles.

The Yankees could jump to being the AL East favorites, though, if they can add a couple more pieces for the winter is over.

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Will the real Phil Hughes please stand up.

Phil Hughes was once a Yankees 1st round draft pick. He was expected to the future ace of the Yankees pitching staff. So far in his 7 big league season, he's shown that he has the ability to be the big man in the club house, but he hasn't given enough consistency to show he can do it.

In the midst of a contract season, Hughes has gone out in several starts and pitch like a man looking for a lot of money, and in other starts he looks like a man that might have a tough time finding a job next season.

The biggest question surrounding Phil Hughes is that maybe he's just not capable of pitching in the AL East and at Yankee Stadium.

Lifetime against the AL East, Hughes has posted a record of 20-21. So clearly he can at time have success as well as having just as much complications with pitching against the Yankees division foes.

Hughes allowed one unearned run over 7 innings on Thursday

Sure, the record doesn't exactly reflect on Hughes' true pitching abilities but I'm not doubting that the Yankees will take a good look at those numbers when deciding if they should bring him back this winter.

Something else I'm sure the Yankees should take a big look at is Hughes' stat line at home, compared to on the road.

Hughes is known as a flyball pitch and that's something that won't help you when pitching in Yankee stadium. Hughes has allowed 66 home runs in 355 2/3 innings pitched at Yankee Stadium, but only 34 in 344 innings pitched on the road.

"I think every pitcher is going to maybe give up a few more home runs in our ballpark than maybe some of the other ballparks that you go to, especially on the west coast. There just aren't as many home runs hit here," Girardi said. "I think he's the same guy (wherever he pitches)."

Well, pitching on the west coast must be what works for Hughes, as he fired off a stellar performance last night Seattle. Tossing seven plus innings, allowing only one unearned run on three hits, while striking out seven.

Watching Hughes pitch through the first few innings in Thursday night's game, I really noticed how precise he was, keeping the ball down in the zone and hitting a lot of his spots given by Romine behind the plate.

It was certainly a different Hughes than the one we've seen so often this season, and even in his last start against the Mariners in which he didn't even make it past the 1st inning.

Phil Hughes might not have turned out to be the next big pitching prospect for the Yankees, but he's still a guy with a lot of pitching ability. Although his ability doesn't give him success in his own home ballpark or against his team's division rivals, they Yankees should still look at re-signing him.

All he needs is a little work on keeping the fastball down and adapt his style to pitch in Yankee Stadium. But if he can't get that fixed, then he's just not meant to be a Yankee.

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