For the first time ever, the Tampa Bay Rays went into the offseason as the defending American League champions, and had to concentrate on how to STAY on top, instead of trying to figure out how to somehow get themselves out of the AL East cellar.

The Rays made their first big move today, reportedly  with former Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell (unless you consider the Matt Joyce deal to be a "big move"). They must have looked at a lot more than his performance in the World Series against the Rays. Burrell batted .071 in that series, with only 1 hit in 14 at bats. That one hit was an important one, however, as he later scored, giving the Phillies an early 2-0 lead in the game 5 clincher.

ESPN just reported this, and gave us a glimpse at the Rays projected lineup for 2009:

While Burrell certainly improves their team offensively, I'm not sold on the idea that it makes them better than the Yankees or Red Sox, which has already been stated by some members of the media.

While the Red Sox lineup has declined a bit in recent years, especially with David Ortiz starting to show signs of aging and becoming more injury-prone. Based on that, they might be better than the Red Sox right now, if the Sox don't make any more moves. Don't count on that, however, because the Sox are still rumored to be looking around for another bat.

The Yankees, however, have one of the scariest lineups around, with the addition of guys like Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira. They now have Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Teixeira, Swisher, Xavier Nady Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada. The Rays lineup is quite good, but still has to improve to become better than the Yankees.

No matter how you slice it, the AL East will once again be the most exciting division in baseball. Hopefully the Orioles and Blue Jays can find a way to compete again as well.


Sources: Rays, Burrell agree to contract [ESPN]