The AL East has long been a brawny division, flush with World Series contenders who hope the feuds in that cauldron gird them for a long October run, and this season is no different.
The Yankees won the division last year, en route to a Fall Classic appearance, but what awaits them in 2025 after a winter of change? Juan Soto is out, now playing across town in Queens, and run prevention is in, thanks to the additions of Max Fried and Devin Williams — and the Yanks hope better fundamentals after sloppy stretches in ‘24.
How do the Orioles, who have made the postseason in each of the last two seasons, stack up? And what about the re-tooled Red Sox, who signed infielder Alex Bregman and starter Walker Buehler and traded for Garrett Crochet?
As spring training ramps up, we took a tour of the division, with help from major league scouts who work for teams outside the AL East.
There’s no telling what can happen over the long span of a 162-game season, but one thing seems clear: Baseball’s best rivalry is so back. Yankees-Red Sox just might get to the spicy heights it used to reach, with both teams poised to contend.
“I think that rivalry is going to be greatly enhanced this year,” said one scout. “Bregman is a Yankee villain and that will add to the rivalry. And the Red Sox are going to be better.”
“I think they’re going to be a force this year,” added another scout.
Bregman should be, um, “popular” among Yankee fans since he’s played his whole career so far for the Astros. There’s no way folks in the Bronx have forgotten Houston’s sign-stealing scandal, or that the Astros have beaten the Yanks in the ALCS three times since 2017.
“Bregman is a proven winner. He plays hard. He picked a great landing spot in that ballpark,” said one scout. Bregman has a career OPS of 1.240 at Fenway Park and his righty swing seems ideal for smacking doubles off the Green Monster.
For his part, Bregman told reporters in Fort Myers on Sunday: “I plan on winning here… I can see that there’s something special here.”
Crochet is part of that and so is the trio of highly-touted Red Sox prospects – Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer – who could impact the roster at some point. Boston played .500 ball last year as younger talents such as Jarren Duran emerged, and there could be more on the way.
Crochet, a 25-year-old lefty who was obtained in a trade with the White Sox, figures to front Boston’s rotation. He struck out 209 in just 146 innings last year.
“He gives them credibility at the top of the rotation,” one scout said. “I don’t think they had that guy. They needed someone to go up against, say, Gerrit Cole, in the opener of a three-game series. They did a real nice job.”
The Yankees, meanwhile, traded for Cody Bellinger and signed Paul Goldschmidt to recoup some of the offense lost when Soto switched boroughs. Nestor Cortes, Clay Holmes, Gleyber Torres, Anthony Rizzo and Alex Verdugo are also gone. But the Yanks kept lefty Tim Hill, added reliever Fernando Cruz and his atomic splitter, and feel they are better defensively and more athletic overall.
But, as GM Brian Cashman told reporters in Florida last week, “the negative is we lost a generational talent in Juan Soto.”
True, but there’s plenty to like about the Yankee winter, according to scouts.
“Paul Goldschmidt is a great defensive player and I think he’ll do very well in that lineup,” one said. “Goldy does real well to right-center field, so I think he’ll do real well in Yankee Stadium. They did a good job spreading that money around.”
Added another scout: “Bellinger has had some exceptional years and some so-so years. The Yankees are really going to need him to bridge that offensive loss of Soto, along with Goldschmidt.”
As for the rotation, the Yankees seem to have a deep starting staff, topped by Cole. Fried, a lefty, figures to be tucked in at No. 2.
“I’m a big fan. He’d be the ace on many staffs in the majors,” one scout said. “Great stuff. Really great composure. Strike thrower and he’s really unpredictable.
“His health is the thing.”
The Yankees still have one hole, though – third base. They are holding out hope that DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera or Oswald Peraza offers a solution, but one of our scouts sees the spot as a potential red flag.
“I’m a little concerned with what they’re going to do with third base, with (Jazz) Chisholm moving to second,” the scout said. “I’m not sure what their plan is there.”
The Orioles, who have reached the postseason in each of the last two years and boast an impressive core of young position players, lost slugger Anthony Santander and ace Corbin Burnes in free agency. Their big additions include Tyler O’Neill, who mashed 16 of his 31 homers last season off lefties, and righties Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano — who posted a 1.67 ERA last season in Japan.
“They gave away an offensive force in Santander and a legit ace in Burnes,” said a scout. “I don’t know how you replace that. It’s going to be tough, especially with the Yankees and Red Sox making moves.
“Baltimore is a little bit behind the other two teams.”
Still, another scout suggested that righty Grayson Rodriguez could be an ace-in-waiting after going 13-4 with a 3.86 ERA in 20 starts.
The Rays will play their home games this season at the Yanks’ spring training home in Tampa, Steinbrenner Field, because Tropicana Field is still under repair from hurricane damage. Tampa Bay, often overlooked, saw a five-year streak of reaching the playoffs end last season. Infielder Ha-Seong Kim was their biggest-name addition.
It’s not the sexiest move in the division, considering what the Yankees and Red Sox did. But as one scout noted, “Every year, they do a great job of piecing it together – their front office, (manager Kevin) Cash, the combination of both. Their analytics department. I don’t expect it to stop this year.”
The Blue Jays, who missed the postseason last year but have gone in three of the last five seasons, did major work to add to their core of Vlad Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and a solid rotation. They added Santander to their lineup, re-tooled the bullpen with the splashy sign of Jeff Hoffman, bolstered their infield by trading for Andrés Giménez and inked Max Scherzer.
Scherzer, the Cooperstown-bound righty, is intriguing if he’s healthy.
“Does he have anything left?” one of our scouts wondered. “You gotta respect his heart. He’ll leave it all out there, that’s for sure. He’s got a track record of taking the ball when he’s healthy. The last few years, he just hasn’t been healthy.”
Overall, the Blue Jays could be a threat. Or a disappointment. “They go through these spurts,” one scout said. “They do seem to have pieces and I think they’ll be there, but is something missing?
“Maybe it’s the division. The AL East is tough. You’re playing a helluva ballclub every night you play in your division.”
So how will it shake out?
“I think the Red Sox, Yankees and Orioles are the class of the division,” one scout said. “And out of the three, I’d say the Yankees and Red Sox are a touch above the Orioles. The recent signing of Bregman has put the Red Sox over the Orioles, in my mind.”
Added another scout: “I like the Yankees. But I think the Red Sox will make the playoffs, too. Baltimore is a little bit behind those two.
“That division will do a good job of beating each other up.”
