New York Yankees

Now that the 2014 spring training is fully underway, The New York Yankees can officially begin their quest to return to the top of the American League East standings and the playoffs.

This camp is certainly going to have a different feel than many of the previous visits to George M. Steinbrenner Field.

This is the first camp since 1995 that Mariano Rivera won't be an active part of.

When the New York Yankees traded for Michael Pineda in January of 2012, visions of a future top-of-the-rotation arm floated throughout the Bronx. In 2014, providing 20-plus starts and league-average production would be an accomplishment for the 25-year-old.

Despite missing out on the postseason last October, the New York Yankees enter spring training as the biggest story in Major League Baseball.

The New York Yankees roster consists of a flurry of stars and a vast collection of bubble players who will need to fight during spring training to crack the final 25-man squad.

With depth in the middle infield, manager Joe Girardi will have to make some tough decisions throughout the spring. Each middle infielder offers similar versatility and skills at the plate, though it might come down to who performs best as camp closes and the regular season begins.

Masahiro Tanaka is officially a member of the New York Yankees organization.

When the team welcomed him to America with a press conference at Yankee Stadium, the brightest pitching star from Japan entered Major League Baseball. Within a few days, fans and media members will garner a live view of his pitches and ability.

For now, we have his personality and demeanor to dissect.

It's been a busy offseason for the New York Yankees, with perhaps their biggest splash coming when they added Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka on a seven-year, $155 million deal to help shore up their rotation.

Tanaka joins CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova as locks to make the rotation this spring, but the No. 5 starter job is still up for grabs at this point.

Suppose you just inked a giant major league contract. What’s the first big purchase you would make?

How do you respond if you win 85 games and finish tied for third in your division?

Well, if you’re the New York Yankees, you respond by spending half a billion dollars in hopes of making sure it doesn’t happen again.

On a superficial level, the New York Yankees spending nearly $500 million on Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Masahiro Tanaka this offseason makes sense because the team missed the playoffs last year and had significant questions about the future.