The AL East is spending again, what will it all mean for the Orioles?

Is anyone surprised that some of baseball's biggest spenders this winter reside in the American League East? Is anyone surprised that list of big spenders does not include the Orioles? While it irks some of you, it should not be a big surprise. The Matt Kemp and Justin Upton rumors were nice and they were interesting, but they were never close to happening. The Red Sox are spending again, the Blue Jays are active again and the Yankees are still the Yankees and can flash a big checkbook anytime they want to. MLBTradeRumors.com recently published a list of spending by division and the AL East shows the way: $362.5 million - AL East $277.5 million - AL Central $236.5 million - NL Central $168.0 million - NL West $142.0 million - AL West $81.0 million - NL East According to MLBTradeRumors.com's list of the top 50 big league free agents this winter, three of the top eight and six of the top 18 have signed with AL East clubs. Meanwhile the Orioles just reached an agreement with Delmon Young, but they've lost Nick Markakis, Andrew Miller and Nelson Cruz. They went 0-for-3 and almost all of us expected at least Markakis to return. If the O's don't spend with the big boys, how can they beat the big boys? Well, do what they just did when they won 96 games and took the AL East by a whopping 12 games, I guess. They lapped the field. When you point something like this out, critics point out that the O's got some unexpected performances, like 40 homers from Cruz, a big year from Steve Pearce and all those saves from Zach Britton. True, but they also saw Manny Machado, Matt Wieters and Chris Davis miss time. Davis hit .196. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched poorly. Adam Jones' slugging and OPS fell a bit, J.J. Hardy hit just nine homers and Jonathan Schoop batted .209. Let's not act like the Orioles are an underdog right now in this division. If they pitch as well as they did last year - and that truly is the key again in 2015 - they can win the division again. I understand some being frustrated and questioning the lack of moves, but I don't understand any opinion that has the O's not a contender in this division right now. Or predictions of a third-, fourth-, or even fifth-place finish. The Tampa Bay Rays and Orioles have combined to win three of the last seven division titles. Tampa Bay did it with an opening day payroll of $43.7 million in 2008 and $72.8 million in 2010, and the O's did it at $108 million last year. Spending makes headlines and it gets fans excited. A lack of spending can have the opposite effect. But the Toronto Blue Jays found out two years ago and the Yankees found out last year that December headlines don't guarantee wins come April. Maybe the Orioles will continue to shop the bargain bin and not spend as some feel they should. But even in the big-dollar AL East, we have seen that wise moves along with pitching, defense and some homers can overcome big checkbooks.