Rankings/List

Sometimes, it's not the blockbuster trade but a seemingly insignificant one that winds up paying the most dividends for a contender down the stretch. 

While the rumor mill is heating up in regards to the biggest names expected to be available as the trade deadline nears, much of the chatter is redundant. There's only one Cole Hamels, for example, so while there might be a dozen teams that Philadelphia's ace is linked to, only one is going to get him.

As the MLB season approaches the midway mark, it's time to break out the red pen and grade all 30 clubs, from the surging Washington Nationals to the last-place Boston Red Sox.

In the process of writing up report cards, the most important factor was each club's win-loss record. At the same time, how a team has either exceeded or fallen short of its preseason expectations was also a critical consideration. That's good news for a team like the Houston Astros and a bummer for a squad like the Red Sox.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a moderately successful 2015 thus far. They sit in first place in the National League West even though half of their Opening Day rotation is out for the year, Joc Pederson has been a breakout star and new additions Yasmani Grandal and Howie Kendrick have been valuable members of the lineup.

Before the season, I could've written down the names of the Washington Nationals' five starting pitchers and it would have only been a slight exaggeration to submit that as a list of the team's top five All-Star Game candidates. 

But with the game just two weeks away, the Nationals' rotation is only likely to send one representative to Cincinnati. 

The 2015 MLB All-Star Game is taking place July 14 in Cincinnati. Fan voting for the starting lineups wraps up this week. There is still some time to get votes submitted for your favorite Los Angeles Angels players. However, only a few have a real shot at playing in the game this year.

When it comes to crossover athletes, there are enduring legends like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, and then there are more marginal cases like Brian Jordan and Drew Henson. Baseball is incredibly time-consuming, from a 162-game regular season in the MLB down to travel teams in top-flight youth baseball, so it allows precious little time for other endeavors, let alone another professional sport, but at least it's low-impact.

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 time to reconsider some things is upon us.

The Major League Baseball season is nearly three months old and is just shy of the halfway mark for games played. Through the 70-plus games already in the book for each team, there have been pleasant surprises and disappointments.

Because of those occurrences, chances are everyone's preseason predictions have taken some dings along the way. It's not like the entire world picked the Houston Astros to be leading their division heading into the All-Star break or the Washington Nationals to struggle to separate in theirs, right?

Having trouble keeping up with all the top-tier prospects who have made an impact on MLB in 2015?

Have no fear—the following slides will provide an update on the next group of youngsters making waves in the minor leagues. Headlined by names like Corey Seager, Lucas Giolito and Yoan Moncada, baseball's pipeline of elite talent doesn't figure to go dry anytime soon. 

Five weeks. That's how much time each of MLB's 30 franchises have to figure out whether they're going to be buyers or sellers at this year's non-waiver trade deadline, which arrives on July 31.

While that might seem like plenty of time, it's really not, especially when you consider that two-and-a-half months into the regular season, only two teams—the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies—are more than 10 games out in both their division races and for a wild-card berth.