Rays prepared for another dogfight in AL East

This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. PETERSBURG -- This much became clear after four days at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn., the sprawling, domed home of this year’s Winter Meetings: The American League East isn’t about to get any easier for the Rays.

First came a report that the Blue Jays had secretly met with Shohei Ohtani, putting Toronto on a short list of expected finalists for the game’s best player. Then the Orioles, fresh off a 101-win season sparked by an enviable core of young talent, showed a newfound willingness to spend by dropping $13 million for closer Craig Kimbrel.

Finally, late Wednesday night, came the biggest move of the week. The Yankees landed Juan Soto, one of baseball’s best hitters putting together a potential Hall of Fame career, in a blockbuster trade with the Padres. New York, like Boston, is also in pursuit of front-line starting pitching -- specifically touted free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Baseball’s best division could be even better next year.

“We say this a lot, and I do think it just is what it is. This division, the AL East, especially now, there’s five really good clubs. There’s teams with a lot of history of being successful,” Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “The names change each year, but in terms of talent coming into this division -- be it talent that’s being developed from organizations from within or that’s being brought in from the outside -- it is one of the constants that comes with competing in a division as challenging as this one.”

Of course, the Rays have proven themselves fully capable of handling that challenge. They’ve reached the postseason five years in a row, the longest streak in the division after the Yankees fell short this year. They won the AL East in 2020 and ’21 and finished two games behind the Orioles this past season.

And we know games aren’t won or lost in the offseason, much less by making headline-grabbing acquisitions. As the Soto rumors were swirling in Nashville, a colleague noted that the Yankees made a similarly massive trade for Giancarlo Stanton at the 2017 Winter Meetings. That same December day, the Rays completed a low-profile move for Joey Wendle, who produced more bWAR in four years with Tampa Bay (10.5) than Stanton has over six seasons in New York (8.3).

But the sheer volume of talent coming into the division will undoubtedly make life more difficult for the Rays, especially as they contemplate parting with a high-end starter in Tyler Glasnow and deal with the still-uncertain status of All-Star shortstop Wander Franco.

The Yankees and Red Sox aren’t happy after missing the postseason last year. The Blue Jays have a bunch of talented players with a desire for more, as proven by their pursuit of a generational superstar. And the Orioles, having emerged from their rebuild, pose a unique challenge as they continue to turn top prospects into valuable contributors.

“It makes it a lot more difficult. Baltimore, look, they were the best team in the division. You don't think they're going anywhere because of … the youth that they've built up, and they had a taste of success,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It is a difficult division.”

On the bright side?

“I still will say that I like the more even-slated schedule where we're not playing [every team in the division] 19 times,” Cash said with a grin. “We'll take that.”