National Lists and Rankings

As the calendar changes to July, those MLB trade whispers will turn into loud shouts. Because of that, there's no better time to rank the top 15 trade targets who figure to be available over the next month. 

Players like Cole Hamels, Johnny Cueto and Scott Kazmir have heard their names grind through the rumor mill for the better part of the 2015 season. While those stars will command the majority of the attention, players like Ben Zobrist, Adam Lind and Mike Leake can also be difference-makers for contenders. 

The MLB trade deadline and the offseason winter meetings get plenty of attention as teams look to bolster their rosters with big signings or trades, but the key to sustained success is still developing homegrown talent.

On the heels of the 2015 MLB draft, and with a number of notable prospect call-ups made around the league in recent weeks, let's take a look at the best homegrown talent on each MLB roster.

First, here are a few items of note regarding who was eligible for this list:

Every year in MLB, teams make moves in hopes of improving their respective ballclubs. While some of those transactions turn out to be underwhelming flops, many wind up being under-the-radar steals.

The 2015 season has had its share of bargain buys. Players like Shelby Miller, Josh Donaldson and Dee Gordon have settled into their new homes and performed at a high level.

In some respects, the one-quarter mark of the 2015 MLB campaign is an arbitrary signpost. In another way, we've reached an important milestone.

There's still enough baseball left for anything to happen. Hot streaks will turn cold, injuries will hit, slumps will end, teams will rise and fall and maybe even rise again.

But we've also watched enough action to draw some conclusions and make a few semi-definitive statements. Like, say, naming the biggest winners and losers of the season's first lap.

The 2014 MLB trade deadline is still two months away, but it's never too early to get the rumor mill churning. There is still a lot of baseball to be played, as most teams have not yet established themselves as buyers or sellers. But we can already start to paint a picture of who will be available at the July 31 non-waiver deadline.

The first month of the baseball season is officially over, which means it's time to dish out grades for all 30 MLB teams. In the report cards that follow, each team is graded on four categories: offense, rotation, bullpen and overall.

The overall grade takes into account the previous three categories. However, in certain cases, it's no easy task to arrive at a final letter grade—especially when teams score particularly high in one section and particularly low in another.

Those with a vested interest in such things surely never actually expect spring training to go according to plan. That's just not how spring training rolls.

But hope that things go according to plan? Oh yeah, there are most definitely hopes that maybe, just maybe spring training will go just...perfectly.

We have reached the one-quarter mark on the 2013 MLB season, and it has been a season largely dominated by starting pitching to this point.

That said, there have been a number of players, and teams for that matter, putting up impressive offensive showings here in the early going.

As one would expect, American League lineups tend to generate more runs thanks to the presence of the DH. The gap isn't all that significant, though, as NL teams have averaged 4.08 runs per game in 2013, while AL teams have averaged 4.43 runs per game.