Say hello to the New York Yankees, still the third-best team in the American League East.

That's the hard truth of Brian Cashman's spending spree. Sure, he got plenty of headlines and created lots of buzz, but what he hasn't done is make his team better than the Boston Red Sox or Tampa Bay Rays.

Want to debate this point?

OK, here goes.

The Yankees are going to run out a rotation of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain and perhaps either Andy Pettitte or Ben Sheets.

Nice, huh?

Even with the questions — Burnett's injury history, Chamberlain's tough adjustment from reliever to starter and the assorted concerns around both Pettitte and Sheets — the Yankees have closed some ground on the Rays and Red Sox.

Just not enough. The Rays are still better. James Shields, Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, David Price and Andy Sonnanstine still comprise baseball's deepest rotation.

They've been on the big stage, too. No one will wonder any longer how they'll handle pennant-race pressure. They did just fine.

There's depth, too. Three youngsters — Jason Hammel, Jeff Niemann and Mitch Talbot — appear just about ready for the big leagues. Free agency can't buy that kind of depth.

The Red Sox? How do you like a rotation of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Justin Masterson and Tim Wakefield?

Don't write that group in stone yet. Boston may spring for a starter in free agency, possibly Derek Lowe.

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The Red Sox and Rays both have deep, talented bullpens. They don't have Mariano Rivera, but Jonathan Papelbon is in the discussion about baseball's best closer.

Rays manager Joe Maddon did a terrific job mixing and matching his relievers late in games. Troy Percival will be back in the role of closer, but playing two months without him allowed Maddon to discover just how many options he has.

In other words, don't feel sorry for the Rays. Don't fret that last year's amazing run was lightning in a bottle.

The Rays are built for the long haul. There's no artistry to overwhelming a free agent with dollars.

There's plenty of artistry in attempting to keep the A.L. champions at the top of the heap with a limited payroll.

"We demonstrated last year that payroll doesn't necessarily decide the standings," Rays GM Andrew Freidman wrote in an email.

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The Rays got better, too, when Friedman last week traded one of his starters, Edwin Jackson, to the Tigers for 24-year-old right fielder Matt Joyce.

"He's above average defensively," Friedman said. "We like what he brings to our club. ... We feel like he can help us for many years to come."

Tampa Bay's outfield of Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Joyce might just be the best in baseball.

The Yankees? How does an outfield of Xavier Nady, Brett Gardner and Johnny Damon ring your chime?

Not impressed? Didn't think so. Boston's is also better: Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew.

But Yankees aren't done yet. Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez are on their radar screen.

Yet we've learned the last few years that chemistry and grit are as important as pure talent.

The Yankees left spring training a couple of years ago with 18 former all-stars on their roster. That team didn't get out of the first round of the playoffs.

The Rays and Red Sox have a clubhouse chemistry that is impossible to overestimate. They've got managers — Maddon and Terry Francona — brilliant at making the pieces fit and keeping the club headed in the right direction.

Talent, of course, is important, too, but in this era of parity, it's tougher and tougher to buy a championship.