Looking at the pitching landscape in the AL East

With a .500 record and a third-place finish, the Orioles didn't meet expectations last season.

And now, as pitchers and catchers report to spring training, the Orioles will have to beat reconstructed pitching staffs in the American League East to make the playoffs for the third time in five years.

The defending champion Blue Jays have former Nationals closer Drew Storen for their bullpen, but their rotation is without David Price, who signed with Boston. The Red Sox beefed up their bullpen with Carson Smith and All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel. The Yankees added closer Aroldis Chapman and the Rays' always-strong rotation will be even better with the healthy return of lefties Matt Moore and Drew Smyly at the beginning and Alex Cobb by mid-summer.

The Orioles, trying to make up a 12-game deficit, are playing catch-up in the rotation, especially with lefty Wei-Yin Chen, who had a 3.72 ERA in his four seasons in Baltimore, moving to Miami.

The Orioles are close to signing free-agent Yovani Gallardo, a potential top-of-the-rotation starter who has a 3.66 career ERA for Milwaukee and Texas. But even if they do, the Orioles still have rotation questions.

The general consensus is that the Orioles bullpen, third-best in the AL last season with a 3.21 ERA, is a strength. The rotation is another story.

The Orioles are banking that Chris Tillman will find the execution that cuts his walks and drops his ERA from the unsightly 4.99 to something more like previous seasons, when he was at 2.93, 3.71 and 3.34. And the Orioles believe that if Miguel Gonzalez is healthy, his ERA will fall from the 4.91 of last year to the more familiar 3.50 range.

At 25, stability is the key for Kevin Gausman to have a breakout year. In his last two seasons, he's been on the disabled list with a shoulder injury, pitched out of the bullpen and made starts for the Orioles as well as three of their minor league teams. In 2014 alone, he made 10 back-and-forth trips to Triple-A Norfolk.

If history is an indication, Ubaldo Jimenez will have his excellent, as well as frustrating, spurts.

That leaves the No. 5 spot in the rotation, where Vance Worley, a former NL Rookie of the Year candidate with Philadelphia, might be the leading candidate. He went from the Phillies to Minnesota, where he failed miserably. Then, he went to Pittsburgh and pitched well after the Pirates fixed flaws in his delivery.

If not Worley, then the No. 5 spot will likely be a competition between prospects Tyler Wilson and Mike Wright. And Odrisimer Despaigne, acquired from San Diego, could pitch in the rotation or bullpen.

The Blue Jays will replace Price, who finished second in the AL Cy Young voting last season, in the rotation with 24-year-old Marcus Stroman, a power pitcher with a six-pitch repertoire and a body similar to Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez. Stroman tore his left ACL last spring and the Blue Jays said it was "far-fetched'' that he would pitch in 2015.

Stroman beat the odds. He came back in September and won all four of his starts, pitching at least seven innings in three. Then, he made three starts in the postseason.

The Blue Jays will see plenty of Price, only he'll be in a Red Sox uniform after signing for $217 million. Price leads a rotation that includes former Orioles farmhand Eduardo Rodriguez, whose 3.85 ERA in 21 starts in 2015 made him arguably Boston's best starter.

Throw in Smith and Kimbrel, the bullpen strikeout machines, and it's fair to say that the Red Sox won't be second-to-last in the league for team ERA.

The Yankees, too, have abundant strikeouts in the bullpen. Chapman, the closer acquired from Cincinnati, averages 15.7 strikeouts per nine innings. His setup guys - Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances - are each better than 14 per nine.

The Yankees' dominating bullpen makes up for a weak rotation, the same plan used by World Series champion Kansas City. The Royals won the AL Central and then the World Series even though their starters pitched the fewest innings in the league last season.

New York's rotation has questions everywhere: Will CC Sabathia hold up? How about Masahiro Tanaka's elbow? Will Michael Pineda pitch a full season? Which stat best defines Nathan Eovaldi - his 14 wins or his 4-plus ERA?

At 3.63, Tampa Bay's starters had the lowest ERA in the league last season, even though injuries limited their projected rotation to start in 82 of 162 games. The leaders are Chris Archer and Jake Odorizzi, who are capable of combining for 400 innings and 400 strikeouts.

Moore and Smyly looked strong in September, so their injury worries are history. And, Alex Cobb, who had ERAs of 2.76 and 2.83 before elbow surgery, could return late July or early August.

The Rays traded reliever Jake McGee to Colorado, so they'll be looking for an eighth-inning guy to set up closer Brad Boxberger.

That's one question that needs an answer this spring. But with six weeks of camp ahead, that won't be the only question to pop up.