"If I Were General Manager..." Series: AL East

Blue Jays

• This one seems too easy. With money to burn and a big first baseman available, I add Prince Fielder to the lineup. How many opposing pitchers will want to wade through a middle of the order that goes righty then lefty with Bautista and then Fielder?
• I make a deal with Colby Rasmus and the skipper. We will hit Colby high in the order (2-hole most days) and play him consistently. If he doesn't see an average of at least 5 ptiches per at-bat, he's gone at the trade deadline. His productive stretches have come when he's drawing walks in front of Pujols, so the same should ring true when hitting in front of my Bautista/Fielder gauntlet.
• I package a good prospect and a few low-tier pieces for starting pitching. In addition to the prospects, I offer the Astros some salary relief and get Wandy Rodriguez AND Brett Myers to fill out the back of my rotation. This leaves me with Romero, Morrow, Rodriguez, Myers and either Drabek or Alvarez.
• I make every effort to send Dustin McGowan and Brett Cecil packing in a trade for a closer. Francisco Rodriguez would be a fit if the Brewers will eat a portion of the salary.

Orioles

• I'm going into rebuilding mode for now, but this looks to be a relatively short-term project. In separate deals, I move JJ Hardy and Adam Jones. My target is decent young pitching, but not necessarily top-tier. My plan is to add a few young #2 or#3 types to toss in with Brian Matusz, Jake Arietta and Zach Britton. Hopefully these guys can mature together along with Matt Wieters. Obviously, young pitching isn't easy to come by, but teams are always in need of shortstops and center fielders.
• Not much else on the radar right now, but the plan in about three years will be to fill in some bats around Wieters and the young arms. We can make a quick run with a few well-timed free agent signings over the next few years, but for now we must show some restraint.

Rays

• I 'm going to trade Wade Davis like he's hot. As Dave Cameron of Fangraphs mentioned recently, "Wade Davis isn't good". However, a number of people seem to THINK that Wade Davis is pretty good, so I'll get as much value as I can. Besides, the rotation left over looks pretty stinking good with Price, Moore, Hellickson, Shields and Jeff Niemann. Make me any offer, but I'm going to ask for a decent shortstop.
• It's a moot point now, but I would have signed Josh Willingham to play right field. You can definitely do worse than having Jennings, Upton and Willingham across the outfield every day. Since Willingham is injury prone, this would also be a good chance to get Brandon Guyer some limited exposure.

Red Sox

• Bid like crazy for Yu Darvish. The posting system is a suspiciously convenient loop-hole for big market teams to manipulate their way around the luxury tax. By posting an obscene number to gain exclusive negotiating rights, I lessen the amount of money that actually goes on the books. Darvish (or whoever) is forced to sign with us or wait until next year. For this reason, a billionaire gets his wings each time a Japanese player is posted.
• I focus entirely on pitching because I only have 2-3 pitchers I can count on. I spend the rest of my money to add Roy Oswalt. The offense is already loaded anyway, so why not stop the other team from scoring?
• To tie up some loose ends, Josh Reddick he will be playing consistently in the outfield, and Daniel Bard will come into camp prepared to be the closer.

Yankees

• This is what makes the AL East interesting. Everything I said about Boston's need for pitching also applies here. Again, Darvish would have made a ton of sense due to the posting process, but I doubt many teams were expecting the bidding to go as high as what the Rangers put up. I look to add two pitchers (both with a name other than Freddy Garcia). Scary thought: If the Yankees go cheap at the back end of their rotation this year, they may end up in third place in this division.
• Honestly, I love the right side of the Yankees' infield, but I'm not excited about much else. (At least not compared to what the division rivals are working with.) I would make a serious run at Yoennis Cespedes to give them another talented outfielder to line up with Granderson and Gardner.