Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays: The good, bad and injured

June is here, and the MLB is heading into the dog days of summer. This is the time of year when baseball gets intricate. Teams have established themselves and shown who is who. Now in June, they start to make adjustments, buyers and sellers become evident, and the top teams will get targets painted on their backs.

The good becomes significant, the bad have to adjust, and the injuries throw wrenches into the plan constantly. So let’s look at the good, the bad, and the injured in the MLB’s most competitive division, the American League East.

AL East: The Good

The Tampa Bay Rays (42-19) are the best team in baseball. They have been electric, exciting, and almost unbelievable. In spring training, we made a bold prediction about Randy Arozarena. He has been outstanding this year, leading one of the lowest payrolls in baseball to a historic 2023 season.

Between Arozarena, Yandy Diaz, and Wander Franco, the trio is hitting over .300 and is on pace for 80+ HR and 300 runs combined, costing just $12.5 million this year. That is by far the best value in baseball. Arozarena and Diaz are slugging it out in the mix for the AL MVP.

Speaking of AL MVPs, the New York Yankees (35-25), despite their early season struggles and creeping up the AL East standings on the massive shoulders of the reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge.

Judge is looking to repeat his MVP-winning season with a 1.078 OPS and is currently on pace for 59 HR, even considering his IL trip. In addition, he robbed another home run on Saturday while crashing through the outfield wall in Los Angeles, his fourth of the year and 11th of his career, tying Mookie Betts and one behind Michael Trout. The Gold Glove is on Judge’s radar, and it’s the last major award he has yet to win.

The Yankees are holding down the final wild card spot and closing in on the Orioles despite starting May in last place in the AL East.

Through Sunday, the Baltimore Orioles (37-22) held the top Wild Card spot. One of the biggest surprises in the AL East, led by a foursome of all-stars in Cedric Mullins, Jorge Mateo, Austin Hays, and Adley Rutschman, they are solid up and down the lineup.

Then there is the quiet Anthony Santander, who is having a fantastic season in Baltimore. The 28-year-old-Santander is hitting .266 on the season with a .875 OPS and nine home runs with a wRC+ of 127. Then they add Aaron Hicks, one of the worst players in baseball, and he has blown up in Baltimore.

Baltimore is good but needs to buy some pitching, homers, and batting average before the trade deadline if they want to make a deep run.

AL East: The Injured

Injuries and avoiding injuries can make or break a season. There are a lot of recent injuries and players about to rejoin their teams in the AL East that could change the landscape of the division. Let’s look at some of the biggest injuries in the AL East.

New York Yankees

The biggest reason the Yankees are only in third place in the AL East is the unreasonable amount of injured players. They got former MVP sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson back as of Saturday, with three homers between them in their first game back. But there are still missing a lot of key players who need to get healthy if the Yankees want to make a run at the series.

Harrison Bader is on his second stint on the IL in 2023, and this time is a hamstring that will have him out for a few weeks. The All-Star break is his expected return.

Carlos Rodón’s pinstripe debut has gone from anticipatedly waiting to questioning the GM for buying a severely injured pitcher. The Rodón situation is bringing back many Carl Pavano memories from Yankee fans. Rodón could resume facing hitters next week in NY; the All-Star break is a realistic return expectation for him, but he could be back by the end of June.

Remember that home run Judge caught and crashed thru the outfield wall Saturday night that we were talking about earlier? Well, he is now day-to-day with a foot thing and was out of the lineup Sunday.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox have placed starter Chris Sale on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The Sox announced afterward that he would head for imaging Friday. It does not look like it will require surgery, but it seems unlikely he’ll be back when first eligible a couple of weeks from now.

A hamstring issue has sidelined Christian Arroyo since May 7, but he looks ready to return. He has already logged 15 at-bats in Triple-A Worcester.

Tampa Bay Rays

A trio of day-to-day injuries happened Saturday for the Rays. Wander Franco, Jose Siri, and Brandon Lowe were all out of Sunday’s lineup. Hopefully, this won’t be anything other than a day or two off, but it could be potentially detrimental to the Rays.

Baltimore Orioles

In Baltimore, Cedric Mullins headed to the 10-day IL last Tuesday with a groin strain, and he should be able to return next weekend without a rehab stint.

Saturday star rookie Gunnar Henderson was listed as day-to-day and was out of the lineup on Sunday. Another injury to keep an eye on, Henderson is considered the future of the franchise.