New AL East power rankings if Gerrit Cole is out long term

4) The Yankees will have a hard time winning without Gerrit Cole

It's hard to overstate how big of a loss this would be if Gerrit Cole had to miss substantial time due to injury. With Cole, the Yankees had a chance to win the ultra-competitive AL East. Without him? It's really hard envisioning that. Because of that, let's hope that the injury is minor. If it isn't, the Yankees are in a world of trouble.

Cole is the reason why the Yankees weren't a sub-.500 team last season and was seemingly the only starting pitcher they could realistically rely on to be both healthy and productive. Cole hadn't been on the IL for any injury-related reason since 2016. He had made at least 30 starts in every full season since (excluding 2020) and had established himself as arguably the best starting pitcher in the world in that span.

Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Nestor Cortes Jr. have all been excellent at points in their careers, but are all injury prone. To make matters worse, the best of the bunch, Rodon, struggled when healthy last season and has looked arguably worse this spring. To cap it off, who exactly would their fifth starter be? Clayton Beeter? If the Yankees sign Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery the outcome could be different, but if Cole has to miss substantial time it's really hard to envision this team doing anything.

The Yankees should still be improved thanks to the Juan Soto and Marcus Stroman additions, but losing Cole takes away almost all of their upside. It also forces New York to rely on the rest of their rotation, which could be an issue.

3) The Blue Jays will make up ground if Gerrit Cole is out long term

The Toronto Blue Jays had a golden opportunity to go big this offseason following another early exit in the playoffs but failed to do so. They were close to signing Shohei Ohtani, but that obviously didn't happen. Unfortunately, it seems like Toronto's entire offseason was centered on Shohei with no clear alternative.

The Jays signed Justin Turner who is coming off a great year, but he's replacing Brandon Belt who was outstanding for Toronto. They lost Matt Chapman and plan on replacing him with a revolving door of Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Davis Schneider, Cavan Biggio, and Santiago Espinal. Not great for an offense that had its struggles last season.

Toronto's starting pitching should be good enough to will the Jays into a top three spot in the AL East after the Cole injury, but that has more to do with the Yankees than themselves. Perhaps bouncebacks from players like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, and Daulton Varsho can change things.