Rankings/List

It has been a difficult season for the Texas Rangers (54-89), who are now 35 games under .500 and without Ron Washington, their manager of eight years.

The biggest deals don't always pay the biggest dividends. 

That conclusion is unavoidable after building the All-2014 MLB free-agent team. By far the best signing of the entire offseason was the Baltimore Orioles one-year, $8 million deal with Nelson Cruz. The Chicago White Sox have also already received all sorts of value from their six-year, $68 million agreement with Jose Abreu. 

While first base proved to be the most crowded spot on the team, the two weakest spots were center field and starting pitcher. 

Just when you thought the off-field action had subsided, big changes in the dugout and front office for three teams have dominated the headlines as we enter the home stretch of MLB's regular season.

Upheavals in Arizona, Houston and Texas may have taken center stage, but there was plenty of notable on-field action during the 23rd week of the season, including the continued slides of one-time playoff locks and the resurgence of teams that, at one point or another this season, were all but left for dead.

The final month of the major league season is upon us, and as we learned last season with the implementation of two wild-card berths in each league, there are more teams contending for playoff spots in September than ever before.

The first weekend is already underway, featuring several series that will impact the playoff races. And there will be meaningful meetings all the way through the final week of the season thanks to that second wild card and some tight divisional races.

The Texas Rangers, beset this season by injuries and poor performance to the point where they currently own the worst record in Major League Baseball, face yet another challenge with the surprise resignation of manager Ron Washington.

Every baseball fan with more brain cells than fingers can tell you that teams wearing throwback uniforms is a brilliant idea. From both a stylistic and a marketing standpoint, bringing back classic designs not only celebrates the game's rich history, it provides a fashionable wrinkle during a protracted regular season marked by humidity, pitchers stepping off, batters stepping out and additional delays for replay review.

2014 has been an incredibly turbulent year for teams in the AL East.

The standings look drastically different than they did a year ago, with the 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox dwelling in the division’s basement and the Baltimore Orioles poised to win the AL East crown for the first time since 1997.

Before we know it, MLB free agency will be upon us. In fact, the rumors and speculation have been in full swing for some time.

What about the latest news, though?

What has been said in the past week regarding some of the bigger names set to cash in on large paydays or switch teams?

Position-by-position MLB power rankings have once again become a staple this year, and now that we've reached the final month of the season, it's time for another update.

After checking in with the guys behind the plate, the next stop for the B/R MLB 500 is the guys they do business with the most: starting pitchers. 

We have 150 starting pitchers to get to, and they'll be scored like so: 30 points for Control, 25 points for Whiffability, 25 points for Hittability and 20 points for "Workhorse" factor for a total of 100 points.