Rankings/List

It is certainly a bit of a misnomer to use the term "underpaid" when discussing professional baseball players. With a new league minimum salary of $480,000, even the sixth outfielder and the lefty specialist make more annually than the President of the United States.

Things are getting chippy again in the Red Sox vs. Yankees rivalry. This time it's first baseman Mark Teixeira for the Bombers and Vicente Padilla of the Sox.

After verbal barbs, punctuated by trading homers and hit by pitches, the two have made headlines for as many off-the-field instances as on-the-field ones. 

With approximately two months to go in the 2012 season, has the NL Rookie of the Year race come down to a two-man competition?

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Wade Miley and Cincinnati Reds infielder Todd Frazier look like the current favorites for the award. But we may have been able to say the same thing about Bryce Harper in June, as early in the season as that was. These things can obviously change quickly.

As we enter the final two months of the Major League Baseball season, there will undoubtedly be more high-profile prospects being recalled. Last week we saw Oakland A's right-hander Dan Straily make his major league debut after seemingly appearing in this segment every week.

Now it's time to once again look at some of the hottest pitchers from each minor league level.

The Baltimore Orioles are having a nice surprise season right now, and, considering how many of their players are performing thus far, it's justifiable to wonder just how on Earth they're doing it.

For the Orioles, it would be greatly beneficial to have these guys break out and perform like they're capable of. It would almost be as if the O's did make a significant deadline deal to boost their team.

The 2012 Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone with the usual flurry of activity taking place, shaking up the landscape of baseball.

With the addition of the second Wild Card this season, it appeared that several teams appeared gun shy at times, afraid to make any earth-rattling moves. Instead, there were several small moves with a couple of blockbusters sprinkled in.

Now that the dust has settled it is time to re-examine and re-rank all 30 MLB pitching rotations as we inch closer to the playoffs.

For over a decade, Ichiro Suzuki has been the face of the Seattle Mariners' franchise. When he made his debut in a Mariner's uniform over 11 years ago, not only did Seattle fall in love with him, MLB did.

Players come and players go; that is the nature of baseball. For many fans, however, when a player leaves their favorite team—in this case, the New York Mets—that player is gone forever. He may still be active, yes, but they lose interest in him.

Well today, in 2012, lots of former Mets are still kicking around—from Endy Chavez to Oliver Perez to Jeff Keppinger. Some have forged pretty good careers since leaving the team, while others have fizzled.

The 2012 MLB trade deadline was highlighted by a deep pool of potentially available starting pitchers, and while not all of them were traded, the likes of Zack Greinke, Ryan Dempster, Francisco Liriano, Paul Maholm and Anibal Sanchez among others should have a significant impact on this year's pennant race.

On the other side of things, the pool of available bats was as thin as it has ever been, and when the Padres opted to re-sign Carlos Quentin and hold on to Chase Headley, the market become even thinner.

After months of MLB trade rumors and speculation, the trade deadline is now over. Players who were expected to move stayed on their own teams, and players who completely slipped by all the trade rumors were shipped out.

As a result, as is the case every year, the landscape of baseball looks different. Which teams made great moves to push themselves to the playoffs and which teams stocked up on solid prospects?