The American League East just got a little more interesting. The Tampa Bay Rays are well on their way to completing a deal that will bring Pat Burrell to Florida for just $16 million over two seasons.

All those worried that the New York Yankees were about to buy their way back into the postseason after acquiring Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett seem a little alarmist now.

The Yankees upgraded their top two pitching spots and added another bat to a lineup that looked uncharacteristically weak for the inaugural season at New Yankee Stadium. Remember, this was a struggling team last season, so the offseason simply got them back to contention. The Rays have a strong one through three in the starting rotation too and the offense has been upgraded with the additions of Burrell and Matt Joyce.

Burrell’s departure from Philadelphia also has to make a different breed of New York fans happy. The New York Mets have been chasing the Philadelphia Phillies for the past two seasons. New Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz is not going to replace Burrell’s 33 home runs and neither is new outfielder Raul Ibanez. In fact combined they might hit 25 home runs. This may be the best offseason moment for the Mets, who have bee rather quiet this year after signing Johan Santana last offseason.

In the AL East it is important not to forget about the Boston Red Sox. Their best offseason move came in the regular season last year when they participated in the annual Pittsburgh Pirates garage sale and picked up a gem in Jason Bay.

If anything is for sure after this offseason, it is that the most competitive MLB tickets are definitely being sold on the East Coast and not in the middle of the country or on the West Coast.