SARASOTA, Fla. — The American League East is providing plenty of headlines this spring.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ best player announced that he won’t be signing an extension with the club and will instead pursue free agency. The New York Yankees’ sixth-best starting pitcher is refusing to go to the bullpen. The Tampa Bay Rays don’t have a stadium and will have to play the 2025 season at a rival’s minor league facility. And the Boston Red Sox’s best hitter won’t change positions to help his team, and then their first baseman opined on how his bosses should build the roster.

Meanwhile, the Orioles are having a comparatively boring, normal, fun spring training.

“Everybody in this clubhouse loves baseball and wants to play baseball for the club that they’re on,” Jordan Westburg said. “It’s good vibes all around.”

There’s no shortage of drama in the AL East right now. But none of it (so far) is emanating from the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota.

Instead, players are talking smack during live batting practice, and pitchers warming up are dancing to music playing from the loud speakers. After the baseball day is over, some players go fishing together, others play video games.

Now feels like an appropriate time for a disclaimer: Positive vibes during spring training can’t overrule talent. No amount of a healthy mindset would have made the rebuild-era Orioles any better. If the Orioles make the playoffs for the third straight season, it will have far more to do with their talent and roster depth than their youthful energy. And if the Yankees or Red Sox falter, it will have more to do with injuries or poor performance than their bumpy beginnings.

But a smooth start can’t hurt.

“We have a lot of individual meetings every morning,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Talking with guys, there’s a lot of, ‘We want to just do whatever we can to win.’ You’re hearing that from the majority of our players. That’s been refreshing.”

Contrast that with the big stories coming out of camp from the other AL East ballclubs.

On Monday, superstar slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays failed to come to terms on a contract extension by the first baseman’s self-imposed deadline. Guerrero said he will not continue discussing an extension with Toronto, putting him in position to hit free agency this offseason.

“They have their numbers, I have my numbers,” Guerrero said Tuesday. When asked if those numbers were close, Guerrero said, “No.”

That situation is tame compared with what’s going on with the Yankees in Tampa or with the Red Sox in Fort Myers.

The defending AL champion Yankees have one of the majors’ best rotations with Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt.

But New York also has rotation depth with Marcus Stroman, a two-time All-Star who is due to make $18.3 million this season.

Stroman was moved to the bullpen in September amid his struggles and did not pitch during the Yankees’ postseason run. When the club signed Fried, it put Stroman, 33, in line for a likely long relief spot — a common role for a team’s sixth best starter. But not if he has his way.

Stroman, whose name has been in trade rumors all offseason, showed up to spring training two days after Yankees pitchers and catchers were told to report. When he did arrive, he said he was “technically early,” referring to the collective bargaining agreement’s mandatory report date of Feb. 22. He then declared he would not be a reliever.

“I’m a starter,” he said. “I won’t pitch in the bullpen. I’m a starter.”

For comparison, here’s how Albert Suárez, the Orioles’ sixth best starter, has responded when asked this spring about a move to the bullpen: “I’m available for whatever they need.”

Of course, Suárez isn’t as accomplished or well-paid as Stroman, who does deserve at least some say in how he’s used. But any player, even someone like Suárez, expressing frustrations about their role this early in spring training serves as a distraction.

But no distraction has been bigger than what Rafael Devers is doing at Fenway South.

Devers, an elite hitter and poor defender playing on a $313 million contract, said he would not cede third base duties to newcomer Alex Bregman and serve as Boston’s designated hitter instead. The Rex Sox signed Bregman, a third baseman, away from the Houston Astros for $40 million per season.

“Third base is my position,” Devers said through an interpreter. “It’s what I play. I don’t know what their plans are. We had a conversation. I made it clear on what my desires were. Whatever happens from here, I don’t know.”

Bregman and manager Alex Cora have tried to tamp down the flames, but first baseman Triston Casas inserted himself and threw in a can of gasoline.

“It’s Raffy Devers’ position,” Casas said. “He’s the third baseman, and at that point, that’s where it stands.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Casas was then asked how he’d handle exciting Red Sox prospects Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, and Casas said he doesn’t believe any of them should break camp in the majors.

Devers, Bregman and Casas will hit just fine this season despite this awkward situation, but it’s a hiccup that the Orioles have avoided thus far.

While that guarantees nothing — the Orioles dancing before games won’t matter if they don’t outscore the other team more often than not — it’s part of a culture that Westburg believes is being built in Baltimore.

“What’s important and what we’re focused on is creating good team chemistry and a good team culture,” he said. “We have a lot of similar faces, but it’s going to be a new team. It’s going to be another dogfight of a division, so there has to be a culture and a foundation that we’re built on as a team.

“We’re trying to win baseball games, get back to the postseason and finish what we haven’t been able to in the last couple of years. I think those are the most important things.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.