Hot Stove Lunch: AL East becoming more of two-team division; Yanks lurking on Darvish

This is a daily BSJ off-season feature that will arrive in time for your lunch, Monday-Friday.

A spin around the leagues with the latest news, notes, and rumors around Major League Baseball

RED SOX

Last weekend, I wrote about how the A.L. East is becoming a two-tier division again -- with the Yankees and Red Sox at the top, and the remainder of the division in the basement.

That started to happen during the season, with both the Yankees and Sox winning 90-plus games and everyone else posting a losing record.

Then, Wednesday happened: the Orioles lost Zach Britton for the first half of next season with a torn Achilles and the Rays traded away their franchise player, the start of a fire sale. (The Blue Jays didn't lose anybody Wednesday, but then, they haven't improved a bit since the season ended, either).

It's starting to resemble the East from 1998-2007, when some combination of the Red Sox and Yankees finished one-two in the division nearly every year.

That doesn't guarantee anything for the Sox, but it does mean 57 games per season -- more than a third of the schedule -- against weakened opponents.

Now, about those Yankees.....

AL EAST

It doesn't appear that the Yankees can fit Yu Darvish onto their payroll and still escape the luxury tax. But just in case, they're lurking.

Zach Britton didn't expect his Orioles career would end like this

The Evan Longoria Era is officially over in Tampa Bay

AL CENTRAL

The Indians quickly found a replacement at first base for Carlos Santana

The Twins made some hires for their minor league affiliates.

The White Sox are focused on rebuilding their bullpen.

AL WEST

Juan Nicasio's deal is now official with the Mariners.

The Astros made a minor league deal involving an outfielder.

The big star of the Angels' off-season is getting some TV exposure.

NL

Sandy Alderson got a contract extension to continue as GM of the Mets.

The Cardinals have traded for Macell Ozuna, but Jon Heyman wonders if they have another big move up their sleeves.

TAKE I MAY REGRET IN A MONTH:

ESPN host Dan Le Batard got into a pretty good argument with commissioner Rob Manfred recently, criticizing Manfred for selling the Marlins to a group which includes, of course, Derek Jeter.

Le Batard is miffed, apparently, that the new ownership group is stripping the franchise to the ground and charges that MLB should have known this was the plan, and thus, denied them the right to purchase the franchise.

First of all, the Marlins have been a mess and poorly run for years and are reportedly hemorrhaging money, with losses of tens of millions per years.  Starting over from the bottom is needed. Secondly, how is this any different than what the previous ownership group did on a nearly annual basis?

Sure, it's painful to watch Giancarlo Stanton, Dee Gordon and Ozuna dealt off. But the new group deserves a chance and will take some time to implement their plan to rebuild.