There’s no arms race going on in the AL East, as there’s really only one team stockpiling weapons.
Shoot, the Toronto Blue Jays are acting like an action movie star that just walked into an armory. And after adding R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio and Melky Cabrera to their roster, there’s no question whatsoever that they’re the team to beat in the AL East in 2013.
It doesn’t feel right, but the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees both look like second-tier punks on paper (and I stress on paper) next to the Blue Jays. Both have been busy this winter, but neither of them have a star-studded roster quite like the one the Blue Jays have arranged.
Nor does either club seem totally willing to match wits with the Blue Jays: The Yankees are playing it safe, and the Red Sox are merely trying to reshape a horrid team into a respectable team.
But let’s go ahead and stray into an alternate reality where the Yankees are willing to abandon their plans for a tighter payroll and the Red Sox are willing to abandon their apparent three-year plan. In this reality, there are a few moves each of them can make to put themselves on the same level as the Blue Jays.
With the right amount of cunning and a few Christmas miracles along the way, here’s how the Yankees and Red Sox can make themselves into super-teams again.
Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Salary and payroll information courtesy of Cot’s Baseball Contracts.