Just in case you didn?t know, the American League East is far and away the strongest division in Major League Baseball. I realize that the previous sentence won?t win me any Bold Statement of the Year awards, but it is something that the most casual of fans might not be aware of. In 2010, the AL East possessed the top two payrolls in the sport, belonging to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, and while this is no surprise, what might come as a shock is the fact that those two payrolls combined were 24% higher than those of the entire AL West. With that kind of disparate money being thrown around at the top of the division, it is understandably difficult for teams with lesser means to compete, year in and year out. Without the benefit of a salary cap, the same two teams, the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, have been fighting it out for the right to be a fourth place team for the past three seasons. It seems as if, however, these same two teams are approaching 2011 with the idea that there might be a chance to challenge for a spot in the upper reaches of the division. No team in baseball has been hurt by free agency more than the Tampa Bay Rays, having lost key players Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Rafael Soriano and Grant Balfour to the promise of riches elsewhere. The Rays also traded away regular contributors Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett in the offseason in an attempt to re-stock the farm system while also shedding payroll. If there was a season when it wouldn?t surprise anyone if Tampa Bay had an off year, 2011 would be it. Back in the Bronx, things really didn?t go the Yankees way this offseason. Having been spurned by Cliff Lee in free agency and losing Andy Pettitte to retirement, the pinstripe starting rotation looks to be severely lacking quality and depth from the third spot down. While the offense remains one of the best in the game, having a starting rotation with so many question marks leaves a playoff spot anything but guaranteed. The offseason isn?t over yet, but as it stands, the AL East standings look to be more fluid than they have at any point in recent memory. Instead of battling for AL East inferiority, the Orioles and Blue Jays are knocking on the door of the big boys of the division. These two teams took distinctly different approaches to the offseason, but both are being met with glowing reviews that they hope will lead to a feeling other than hopelessness in their fans. Let?s be honest, the faithful in Toronto and Baltimore haven?t had much to cheer about over the past decade or so, especially in September in October. At the moment, there might not be another front office thought more highly of than that of the Blue Jays, specifically General Manager Alex Anthopoulos.In what had to be the most improbable move of the offseason, Anthopoulos was able to trade a player that some called the most untradable in all of baseball, Vernon Wells. However, he was successful in unloading the remaining four years and $86 million owed to Wells while only having paid $5 million of one of the worst contracts in the sport. Did I mention that he also received two useful players in return? If this was the only move that Anthopoulos made this offseason, it would have been viewed as a rousing success. He was also able to acquire a player in Rajai Davis who will presumably take over for Wells in center field. Even though Davis doesn?t possess stellar on base skills, when he gets there he makes it count. In far less playing time than the rest of the players on the leaderboard, Davis was able to steal 91 bases over the past two seasons, giving the Blue Jays a leadoff hitter that they have been sorely lacking as of late. Toronto is a team that has the ability to score a lot of runs and they aren?t lacking for power in the lineup. As a team, they compiled a .766 OPS in 2010, which ranked fourth in all of baseball. In fact, the Blue Jays were already a fairly well-rounded team before the offseason was under way, but to compete in the AL East, a team must excel in all facets of the game. Above average doesn?t cut the mustard, which is why in virtually every significant trade the Blue Jays have made since Anthopoulos took over, they have targeted high-end, blue chip prospects. You don?t compete in an elite division without elite players and Toronto fans are hoping that is exactly what players like Kyle Drabek, Anthony Gose, Travis D?Arnaud and Brett Lawrie become. The thing that allowed the Blue Jays to trade a young and talented starting pitcher like Shaun Marcum this offseason is the stable of young starters they possess that have all experienced some level of success in the major leagues. Starters such as Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Brett Cecil fall into this category, while youngsters such as Drabek, Marc Rzepczynski and Zach Stewart represent the next wave of talented hurlers that could figure into the rotation this season. The bullpen is an area that was revamped in the offseason, having exchanged successful veteran relievers for even more experienced ones. Out are Scott Downs and Kevin Gregg, both of whom signed relatively lucrative multi-year deals for middle relievers. In come the three-headed monster consisting of Octavio Dotel, Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco, to go with Jason Frasor in what appears to be a four way race for the closer?s job. However it shakes out, the backend of the Toronto bullpen looks as if it will be a major strength for them as they try to crack the top three spots in the AL East. The other annual bottom feeder in the East has been the Baltimore Orioles, who are looking to improve upon the 67 wins they have averaged over the past five seasons. In 2011, they are hoping to achieve this goal with what is virtually a completely different infield than they had in 2010. While Brian Roberts technically was part of the team, he spent three and half months on the disabled list. He will join an entirely new cast of characters around him at Camden Yards when they take the field for the first time this April. Free agent Derek Lee signed a one year contract to man first base and prove that he still has something left in the tank. Lee had a down year by his standards, having accumulated an OPS of .774, almost two hundred points less than the figure he posted in 2009. One thing he will surely bring with him, however, is his penchant for picking up his fellow infielders by plucking errant throws out of the dirt. Lee isn?t the only risky acquisition that the Orioles made this offseason, as they were also able to land a proven major leaguer at the hot corner. What Mark Reynolds has proven at the major league level is a different proposition altogether. There is no doubt that Reynolds will provide power to a lineup that is sorely lacking it, but the real question mark is whether or not the AL East will cause him to add to what is already three consecutive record breaking seasons in the strikeout department. Not to belabor the point, but over the past three seasons Reynolds has struck out in 39.5% of his at-bats, worst in the major leagues. Will switching leagues and a lack of familiarity with opposing pitchers lead to an even more prodigious strikeout total? Only time will tell. To round out the infield overhaul, the Orioles traded for the once-heralded shortstop J.J. Hardy. After convincing folks around baseball that he was one of the top power-hitting threats at his position, Hardy?s production took a nosedive in 2009. While he may have improved ever so slightly in 2010, he was still no where near the production that saw him contribute an .821 OPS to the Brewers in 2008. While he still plays excellent defense, the Orioles need all of the offense they can get, which leads to the next acquisition. Baltimore also solidified the designated hitter spot with the free agent signing of veteran free swinger Vladimir Guerrero. Lest you be confused, Guerrero should be spending approximately zero time in the field this season, as evidenced by his less than stellar performance in Game One of the World Series. However, he did silence the critics in 2010 who said that he had lost his way at the plate, answering the bell with an .841 OPS over an impressive 643 plate appearances. The Orioles success in 2011, or lack thereof, will depend on the performances they receive from their talented but inexperienced starting rotation. At one point in time, the trio of Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta and Chris Tillman was looked upon as the finest group of young starters that any one team possessed. While Tillman and Arrieta have struggled mightily early on in their careers, Matusz appears to be on the verge of becoming one of the top lefties in the American League. Even though it took him four months to get going, he was able to finish the year strong with 2.18 ERA in his final 11 starts. It might not seem like much, but for a 23-year-old to complete a season as he did, with many of those starts coming against some of the best offenses in the AL, it was a good sign of things to come for the Orioles organization. So, while there is still a good chance that we will see some combination of the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays at the top of the AL East come October, the two teams used to bringing up the rear have shown some signs of life. It will definitely take a disappointing season or two from the triumvirate of powerhouses for these two teams to have a chance at competing, however. Whether they put together an extended run to challenge the usual suspects at the top of division remains to be seen. Jason Follain is the Senior Baseball Writer for RealGM.com. Please feel free to send comments, suggestions and feedback to Jason Follain directly at [email protected]