Orioles, Red Sox moves may make AL East life harder for Rays
ST. PETERSBURG — Life in the American League East is always challenging for the Rays.
And now seemingly more so, as two of their rivals took what appear to be significant steps toward stability and long-term success.
The Orioles announced a sale agreement to a deep-pocketed ownership group with impressive connections, including icon Cal Ripken Jr. And at what seems a low price, a reported $1.725 billion, given projections for other teams and expansion franchises.
As if to preview how things will be different without the Angelos family involved, the O’s went out the next day and traded for the front-line starter they desperately needed to defend their division title, getting Corbin Burnes from Milwaukee.
And they did so with little impact on their consensus-best farm system, acquiring Burnes (and his $15.6 million salary in his last year before free agency) without surrendering a top-five prospect.
After winning the AL East with a roughly $70 million payroll (less than the Rays, more than only the A’s), they are set to defend it for less than $100 million and are well positioned going forward, including a new 30-year stadium deal done in December
Lesser but still important, the Red Sox also made a huge addition.
Though Theo Epstein is 50 and his only playing skills are on guitar, he could have a massive impact turning around a team that has finished last in three of the previous four seasons, rejoining the Red Sox as a minority owner and senior advisor.
He won’t have the hands-on role he did in building drought-breaking teams in Boston (2004, plus another title in 2007) and Chicago (2016), but Epstein is sure to provide needed direction. Also, he is close with new Red Sox baseball operations chief Craig Breslow, having hired him originally in Chicago, and is likely to provide mentorship and strategic advice.
Though Yankees fans are concerned the team hasn’t done more (such as signing a top starter like ex-Ray Blake Snell), trading for dangerous Juan Soto while also adding Alex Verdugo, Marcus Stroman and Trent Grisham should still make them better. And ownership/management is talking a good game about doing whatever necessary to rebound from an 82-80 season they called “awful” and “a disaster.”
The Blue Jays are a bit of a question mark, having done little of significance to improve since Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec got off the infamous private plane rather than Shohei Ohtani.
As of Friday, fangraphs.com had the teams projected to finish in this order: Yankees (.549, which is 89 wins), Rays (.532, 86), Orioles (.529, 86), Jays (.524, 85), Red Sox (.503, 81). The average of several prominent over-under betting lines looks like this: Yankees (93.5), Orioles (91.5), Jays (87), Rays (84.5), Red Sox (79.5).
• Infielder Junior Caminero, who said upon his unexpected September callup he chose uniform No. 1 “because I am No. 1,” has switched to No. 13 (which became available with Manuel Margot traded). Among newcomers, Richie Palacios will wear No. 1, Jose Caballero 7, Jonny DeLuca 21, Ryan Pepiot 44.
