Who's winning the American League East offseason?

This isn't necessarily a look into who got the best players, but more of a view into who improved their team the most in the AL East.

While some notable free agents remain unsigned, most clubs have already done the heavy lifting in terms of preparing their roster for the 2025 season.

Long considered to be the bridesmaid but never the bride when it comes to landing top talent in free agency, the Jays once again came up short in their pursuit of top free agents like Soto, Burnes, and Roki Sasaki.

That didn't stop them from upgrading the roster this winter, however, as they've been one of the more active teams around the league.

Jeff Hoffman, Josh Walker, Nick Sandlin and Yimi Garcia were both brought in to shore up the club's lackluster bullpen mix after the club non-tendered closer Jordan Romano, while future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer will be tasked with replacing Yusei Kikuchi in the club's rotation as he enter his age-40 campaign.

In addition to those pitching moves, the Jays made two major additions to their lineup: they traded Spencer Horwitz to land Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez alongside Sandlin during the Winter Meetings, providing them with a quality defensive option at the keystone and a viable long-term alternative to Bo Bichette at shortstop.

That move was followed up by signing slugger Anthony Santander to a five-year deal, with Santander set to offer power in the lineup as well as some protection for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in his final season before free agency.

Guerrero's future has been a key topic of Toronto's offseason to this point, and while the sides have discussed an extension there's been no signs of a conclusion in sight even with Guerrero's self-imposed deadline just a week away.

The Rays' offseason moves have largely been overshadowed by the situation regarding Tropicana Field, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Milton and will not be usable for the 2025 season.

That's forced the Rays to temporarily relocate to Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, but the new location hasn't stopped the club from being fairly active this winter.

The club was long expected to deal from their starting pitching surplus this winter, and did so when they shipped Jeffrey Springs to the A's alongside Jacob Lopez in a return highlighted by flamethrowing right-hander Joe Boyle.

The club also traded Jose Siri to the Mets shortly before the non-tender deadline, leaving them with plenty of question marks in the outfield, but did manage to address other key areas of the roster in free agency.

After entering the winter with catcher as their biggest question mark, the club added the winter's top free agent at the position in Danny Jansen.

More recently, the Rays addressed their lackluster mix of players at shortstop by bringing Ha-Seong Kim into the fold on a short-term deal.

The club's lack of solid outfield options, which will likely force infielders like Christopher Morel, Richie Palacios and Jose Caballero onto the grass in 2025, leave a major question mark on the club's roster, but the additions of Jansen and Kim along with the impending return for ace Shane McClanahan from injury leave the club into a relatively good place headed into 2025.

The Red Sox set out to improve their rotation this winter and accomplished just that.

They swung a trade for White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet at the Winter Meetings, shipping out top prospects Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery in a four-player package that brought back a lefty ace with two years of control remaining before free agency.

They followed that addition up by replacing outgoing veteran right-hander Nick Pivetta with a high-upside roll of the dice on Walker Buehler, who struggled in 2024 coming off a return from Tommy John surgery but was among the best pitchers in the sport before going under the knife.

Outside of those moves, however, the Red Sox have been surprisingly quiet.

They were involved in the sweepstakes for top free agents like Juan Soto and Max Fried but ultimately did not sign any of those impact players, or even players in the next tier down like Nathan Eovaldi and Teoscar Hernandez.

The additions of Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson should help to improve the bullpen, but the team's long-acknowledged need for a right-handed bat who can help balance their lineup has gone unaddressed.

That could change as they appear to be involved in the markets for both Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado, but for now the offense has gone largely unaddressed.

The Orioles haven't made the splashy addition many expected this winter after a difficult season that saw them get swept out of the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Right-hander Corbin Burnes departed for Arizona and was replaced by veteran arms Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano rather than a true ace.

Aside from those rotation additions, the club has also added Andrew Kittredge to its bullpen mix as a set-up man for returning closer Felix Bautista.

Most of the focus has been on the lineup this winter, however, as they've added Tyler O'Neill to replace Anthony Santander, Gary Sanchez to replace James McCann, and then further bolstered the club's outfield depth with deals for Ramon Laureano and Dylan Carlson.

That leaves the club set to enter 2025 with a position player mix that might be even deeper than last year's, but a pitching staff that carries even more question marks.

A discussion of what the reigning AL champions have added this winter can't begin without addressing what they've lost. Juan Soto signed a record-shattering contract to move across town to the Mets, and in doing so removed a vital piece from the heart of New York's lineup.

Down one perennial MVP candidate, the Yankees focused this winter on fixing up their roster around the one that still remains in Aaron Judge.

The club kicked off the offseason by calling the bluff of veteran ace Gerrit Cole when he opted out of his deal with the club only to agree to return on his current deal rather than test free agency when the Yankees declined to tack on an extra year and $36MM to his contract to force him to stay.

They then paired another veteran ace with Cole at the top of the rotation by signing southpaw Max Fried away from Atlanta, which freed them up to trade Nestor Cortes to the Brewers as part of a package that landed them star closer Devin Williams.

Trading for Fernando Cruz and reuniting with both Tim Hill and Jonathan Loaisiga in free agency further bolstered the club's strong bullpen mix.

While the club's pitching moves have been quite impressive, the same can't necessarily be said for the lineup.

The club swapped Cody Poteet to the Cubs to acquire Cody Bellinger in what amounted to a salary-dump move for Chicago, and the addition of Bellinger allowed the club to move Judge back to his natural position of right field.

With that being said, however, their only other move of note on offense has been to sign Paul Goldschmidt coming off a career-worst season.

Those additions are likely upgrades over Alex Verdugo and Anthony Rizzo, but losses of Soto and Gleyber Torres on offense have not been addressed.

The Yankees have tried to trade Marcus Stroman to free up funds for further lineup additions, but that goal has not yet borne fruit.

All five teams made worthwhile moves this winter, but will it be enough for the Yankees to overcome the losses of Soto and Torres, or the Orioles to overcome the loss of Burnes?

Will the Red Sox be able to to get by without adding to the lineup, and will the Rays be able to compete with questions all over the outfield?

Are the Blue Jays' aggressive additions enough to put them back into the playoffs for Guerrero's walk year?

With all five teams trying to win in 2025 despite holes and question marks, the AL East figures to be perhaps the most interesting of the league's divisions this year, top-to-bottom.

Of the five AL East clubs, which one has had the strongest offseason so far? Have your say in the poll below:

SOURCE: MLBTR