american league east 2013

Who became contenders overnight in the AL East? The Toronto Blue Jays. The team added $160 million to their payroll in a monster deal with the Miami Marlins before spending another $16 million on a two year deal for Melky Cabrera. He was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance in August after leading the National League batting race and winning the All Star Game MVP. A good player and above average fielder should be a good fit, especially since he will be hitting lower in the order. In the Marlins trade, the Jays picked up 2011 National League batting champion Jose Reyes, starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, both former all stars, catcher John Buck (two years removed from his career season with the Jays) and solid utility infielder Emilio Bonifacio. The trade is on of the biggest in recent memory.. well, this deal and the Dodgers-Red Sox deal when the Sox shed $250 million in salary shipping Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to the 'cash poor' Dodgers for Troy Loney and a couple minor leaguers. Either way the Blue Jays have positioned themselves to compete in the AL East, with the Yankees aging/looking to shed payroll and the Red Sox in shambles after a disastrous season in 2012. There has also been rumours floating around that there is some interest in former Jay Shaun Marcum, and apparently the feeling is mutual. If the Jays can manage to get Marcum back then their rotation in 2013 would look something like this 1-5: Josh Johnson, Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brendan Morrow, Mark Buehrle. That is really, really good, and would be among the best rotations in all of baseball. The only other big rumor floating around the AL East is that the Orioles are front runners in the Josh Hamilton sweepstakes, and if that deal goes down then the Yankees and Red Sox might very well be battling to stay out of the basement, while the Rays, Jays and Orioles will be fighting for a trip to the postseason. At the very least, the Toronto Blue Jays have put pressure on the rest of the division to make a move since there is no way Toronto won't be significantly better, despite the ongoing search for a manager (which is down to a few candidates: Former Rockies skip Jim Tracy, Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach, Jim Riggleman who last managed with the Washington Nationals in 2011 and current Jay coach and former Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu). And, as good as their rotation is, their starting nine ain't too bad either: 

LF: Melky Cabrera

CF: Colby Rasmus

RF: Jose Bautista

1B: Adam Lind/David Cooper

2B: Emilio Bonifacio/Maicer Izturis

SS: Jose Reyes

3B: Brett Lawrie

C: John Buck/J.P. Arencebia

DH: Edwin Encarnacion