Preview/Prediction

As it looks like the Rangers have acquired Cliff Lee, the baseball landscape completely changes. The Twins and Tigers look like they no longer have a legitimate shot at a World Series title, while the Rangers make a huge leap and are looking like a good bet to be a championship contender.

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It's that time of year again. Now the teams out of contention put "For Sale" signs in their front yards, and the contenders look to buy spare parts for their October runs. Now teams decide whether they are buyers or sellers.

With a number of top-tier players on teams out of contention, there could be a flurry of moves as we near the July 31 trade deadline. As always, pitching is at a premium, and some of the best are on the market.

In the initial installment of the report card, all of the pitchers who have appeared for the Los Angeles Dodgers were evaluated and graded, and in this second portion of the evaluations, the performances of all the position players who have been utilized in the first half of the season will be examined.

All of the teams in Major League Baseball with excellent pitching staffs still need to put eight quality position players behind every pitcher in order to succeed.

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Each offseason, owners and general managers of all 30 ball clubs in the Majors work tirelessly trying to put together a collection of players that will contend for the playoffs.

They trade, they sign, they draft and they evaluate talent in hopes that those players have what it takes to succeed at the professional level.

Only eight of those teams see their playoff aspirations realized, however.

The rest must take a step back and reevaluate the direction their franchise is taking.

For some, that point comes sooner than others.

The July 31 trade deadline, for many underachieving teams, is th

The Angels had the second best record in all of baseball for the month of June.

The problem is, the Texas Rangers were the only team better, and they are the team the Angels are trying to catch.

July has not started out with as much promise.

The Angels now find themselves 5.5 games back in the AL West after being swept by the Chicago White Sox during a four-game series in Chicago for the first time in 27 years.

Many are ready to push the panic button and start the fire sale. However, all is not lost with the Angels.

With the official halfway point of the season having already passed on July 4, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves amidst another tight race in the always competitive NL West division.

At the 81-game mark, the Dodgers were sitting in second place, trailing the surprising San Diego Padres by 3.5 games; however, the journey thus far hasn't been easy.

The entire Los Angeles squad has been plagued by injuries during the first half of the season, and the pitching staff has been hit especially hard.

The Dodgers marched a total of 19 different pitchers to the mound before the halfway mark&mdas

Six participants for the 2010 Home Run Derby were announced yesterday: David Ortiz (DH, Boston), Corey Hart (OF, Milwaukee), Matt Holliday (OF, St. Louis), Miguel Cabrera (1B, Detroit), Robinson Cano (2B, New York Yankees), and Vernon Wells (OF, Toronto).

All told, it's not a terrible lineup.  There will be two more participants announced before the Derby, but you've already got old-school power hitters in Cabrera and Ortiz and some new blood in Cano and Hart.

Yovani Gallardo of the Milwaukee Brewers has been officially placed on the disabled list retroactive to July 5 with a strained left oblique he suffered in the bottom of the third inning on Sunday. Fantasy baseball owners will greatly miss the 8-4 Gallardo with his 2.58 ERA and 9.83 strikeouts per nine innings.

Jordan Schelling of Brewers.com noted that despite being recently named to the National League All-Star team, Gallardo will not take part due to the injury.

With the season's true mid point having passed this week and its unofficial end to the first half looming with next week's All-Star break, the timing couldn't be better to project how the Blue Jays will perform from here on out. With several unexpected offensive performances, both good and bad, this process will be closer to guessing than projecting.

NEW YORK—With five games left before the All-Star break, the Mets are trying to not let what was a surprisingly good first half turn into a disappointing finish.

After going on an amazing 21-7 stretch from May 22 through June 23, the Mets have played sub-.500 baseball over their last 11 games, going 5-6.