Toronto GM.

"In the recent past, the Yankees could count on their offense to do a fair amount of bludgeoning, especially at home, to inflate their win-loss record. But that strategy is gone for at least April while Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira convalesce, and perhaps all season due to the irreversible impact of injuries and offseason defections."

If Nick Swisher was worth this much, then he should have been named AL MVP in 2012.


"The loss of offense, combined with the roster’s advancing age and the belief the AL East is going to play stronger from top to bottom than at any time in history has created a sense these Yankees might not even contend this year. Except the general manager of the flavor-of-the-month team in the AL East doesn’t believe it."

The AL East has quite a history. I think the 2013 AL East is weak compared to recent years because the power has shifted a bit to the AL West and AL Central. While there may not be any pushovers, the power teams are no longer power teams.


" 'A few things about the Yankees,' said Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos. 'People want to count them out because of the injuries. Last year, Mariano Rivera, A-Rod, Joba [Chamberlain], [Brett] Gardner and [Andy] Pettitte were out for extended periods and they still won 95 games."

And Teixeira missed a month.


" 'Just look at their rotation. You might not want it in five years, but I think just about any team would take their rotation in 2013. Tampa has shown in this division what you can do with a strong rotation. Last year the Rays lost [Evan] Longoria for most of the season, their offense probably wasn’t as good as the Yanks have now even without Teixeira and Granderson — and they still won 90 games. I am not counting the Yanks out, no way.' "

What he said.