With the signing of Bengie Molina, the Blue Jays become a force, and not just a van der Waals force. I was skeptical when J.P. Ricciardi started blowing his budget surplus this offseason, but now I'm a believer. This team, if it stays healthy, can easily win 90 games. Their rotation now boasts Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett at the top. B.J. Ryan may not be an entirely proven commodity after only one excellent season with the Orioles, but no matter what happens he'll no doubt be an improvement over Miguel Batista. And look at this projected starting lineup:

C - Molina. Behind Joe Mauer, probably the best hitting catcher in the American League. Also handles a staff well.
1B - Lyle Overbay. A sleeper if I've ever seen one. If I can nab this guy near the middle of the draft, I'll do it.
2B - Aaron Hill. 24-year-old who I don't know much about, but he hit .274 in 361 at-bats last year, so he can't be all bad. They'll miss Orlando Hudson (a big chip in the Glaus trade) defensively.
3B - Troy Glaus. An injury waiting to happen, sure, but everyone knows he can still rake. He had a better than expected year in AZ last year: 37 home runs, 97 RBI. And if he goes down, Shea Hillenbrand is waiting to spell him.
SS - Russ Adams. It's cool that they were confident enough in Hill to trade Hudson, but Adams sort of makes me nervous. He stole 11 bases which is nice, but that .325 on-base could become a problem. This guy's gonna be 25 at the start of the season so there's definitely room for improvement (and I guess someone has to hit at the back end of this lineup), but I'd still have Eric Hinske doing shortstop drills this spring training.
DH - Hillenbrand. The Jays love Hillenbrand, and they should. They could've traded him for much more than he was worth at last year's trade deadline. I think they're smart for keeping him. He strikes out a lot, but he's a gamer. And if Hillenbrand goes down, they still have Hinske. Bench got depth.
LF - Reed Johnson/Hinske. This is the second spot in the order that I'd be worried about, but, again, somebody's gotta hit eighth and ninth. Reed Johnson is a good fourth-outfielder type. After that ROY campaign, Hinske gets paid too much for hitting too little. I like him better as an overpaid utility man than as an everyday third baseman,
CF - Vernon Wells. This guy will do big things this season. He'll hit around .285, hit 35 homers, knock in 110, and steal ten bases. You're gonna want him on your team.
RF - Alexis Rios/Frank Catalanotto. Rios is young and is only going improve. Catalanotto isn't much of a fantasy player beyond a one-week injury plug-in, but he's a rare kind of player: an unassuming spray-hitter with a career .297 average who doesn't seem to have the durability to last more than 130 games. Regardless, this is the coolest platoon in the majors.

Red Sox fans probably think everything is okay now that Theo is back, but they need to actually start getting concerned about finishing third this season.

I'll write tomorrow about how much I love Scott Kazmir, at which point I will stop talking about the AL East for a while, I swear.