The AL East: Never a shortage of money or moves

Heading into the 2013 season, the Toronto Blue Jays were a trendy pick to win the American League East. They made some bold moves and spent some money the previous winter.

They acquired players like R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Melky Cabrera and Jose Reyes.

But it didn't work out and Toronto finished in last place at 77-84. It got a little better last season, when the Blue Jays finished 83-79, and they've been spending again this winter, already signing catcher Russell Martin to a five-year deal worth $82 million.

Martin had a very good 2014 season for Pittsburgh, but before that, his stats were quite modest for a few seasons.

The New York Yankees were a trendy team to pick heading into last season after a winter spending spree of around $500 million that netted Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka. Then the Yankees went 84-78 and finished 12 games out of first place.

Late last night, the news came out that Boston was closing in on a deal for free agent Hanley Ramirez. That is followed this morning by news the Sox will also sign Pablo Sandoval.

Two players and about $200 million worth of contracts.

Now does Boston go after former Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester? What about Andrew Miller?

MLBTradeRumors.com wrote this last night about Ramirez:

"There are big questions about Ramirez's defense, particularly at shortstop. He has also had trouble staying healthy in the past several seasons. Still, Ramirez, who hit .283/.369/.448 for the Dodgers last season and is .300/.373/.500 for his career, clearly has an impact bat, and that's a huge asset, particularly in an offense-thin free agent market."

Boston finished in last place for the second time in three years last season, going 71-91. For all the talk of the Red Sox batters working the count and so forth, they ranked 11th in the American League in runs last year and were 10th in ERA. We saw their defense play some awful games against the Orioles. They earned those 91 losses.

It seems to be the Yankees tried to buy a playoff berth heading into the 2014 season and now Boston may be trying to buy its way out of last place and back into contention for 2015.

So the Blue Jays are spending and Boston is about to join them. Tampa Bay doesn't have any money to spend and doesn't even have a manager yet for next year.

The Yankees have been the quiet ones so far. How long can that last? Would it surprise anyone to soon hear that New York is pursuing Lester or Max Scherzer? Wouldn't suprise me.

But can spending buy wins? In this division in recent years, it doesn't look like it. Even the Orioles, in winning the division, saw how it worked out for their biggest investment. They spent $50 million on Ubaldo Jimenez and he lost his rotation spot.

Say this for the teams of the AL East. It's not dull.