Toronto Blue Jays: Grading the Offseason for the AL East

New York Yankees: A

Zack Britton, LHP (free agent); J.A. Happ, LHP (free agent); DJ LeMahieu, 2B (free agent); Adam Ottavino, RHP (free agent); James Paxton, LHP (trade with Mariners); CC Sabathia, LHP (free agent); Troy Tulowitzki, SS (free agent).

The Yankees have been, by far, the most active team in the division and possibly in the majors. They’ve re-signed Britton, Happ, and Sabathia while also signing second baseman DJ LeMahieu, reliever Ottavino and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to a minor league deal after being released by the Blue Jays. They also made one of the biggest trades in the offseason to acquire Canadian southpaw James Paxton.

Their rotation got better, their offense might have lost a bit with Didi Gregorius being out approximately until the All-Star game, but they’ve added infield depth with LeMahieu and Tulowitzki. Adding on to that, their bullpen has gotten even better with the signing of Ottavino.

Some might argue they should have signed Manny Machado to take over third base or play shortstop while Gregorius is out, but their team is already very good and committing $300 million might not be the best idea when you have a young player like Miguel Andujar who isn’t a great defender but is very young with a great bat, and Gleyber Torres who finished third in the rookie of the year race and can play all three infield positions. They simply made all the necessary moves to make their team better, which now seems to make them the favourite to win the AL East in 2019.