Here's a look at the AL East as the Rays and Red Sox jostle for control of the division..
- Orioles Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette told reporters, including CSNBaltimore's Rich Dubroff, "We’ve pursued some hitters, but we haven’t been able to find the right fit." Duquette added he's looking at options to improve the bullpen, but those may come from Triple-A.
- The Rays were able to acquire outfielder David DeJesus and his approximately $2.4MM salary committment because they are "under budget," a Major League source told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).
- Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman made moves this summer with depth in mind, writes Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune. “We talked about it in July, our biggest focus was on augmenting our depth,” Friedman said before Friday’s win. “Essentially right now we have a 37-game season and we’re doing everything we can to put together the most talented team we can going down the stretch. The fact that we play 37 games in 38 days also factored in, something where us having as much depth as we could was important. In our minds this is arguably the deepest roster we’ve had.” The Rays added reliever Jesse Crain in late July, signed designated hitter Delmon Young to a minor league deal on Thursday, and traded for outfielder David DeJesus on Friday.
- The Yankees' acquisition of Alfonso Soriano represents the sixth time in 19 years the club landed an established slugger during the season who had at least the following season left on his contract. Joel Sherman of the New York Post runs down the previous five occurences and ranks them by success. He concludes that those acquisitions - Ruben Sierra, Cecil Fielder, David Justice, Raul Mondesi, and Bobby Abreu - helped the Yanks in the season they were acquired but most of them were problematic beyond that.
- A year after shocking the baseball world, Red Sox GM Ben Cherington has no regrets about his megatrade with L.A., writes Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald.
Edward Creech contributed to this post.
