Cleveland Zip Codes

Stark: Ranking the trade chips

Once a week here at ESPN.com, we roll out our world-famous Power Rankings of all 30 MLB teams. But it's a funny thing this time of year. When trade-deadline season rolls around, we find folks can sometimes forget those 30 teams are actually still playing.

So in honor of our irrational ability to get distracted by rumor-mongering in the last week of July, here come our Human Trade Rumor Power Rankings, as we approach the final 48 hours before the trading deadline:

There was a flurry of action revolving around the Astros' 28-year-old energizer Thursday -- or, at the very least, a whole lot of breaking news stories that told us that flurry was engulfing the Astros as relentlessly as a midsummer Texas mosquito attack.

But by late Thursday night, there was evidence the Red Sox, Reds, Pirates and Indians had peeled off after hearing the price tag, leaving only the Phillies and Braves. And by Friday, indications were the Phillies were essentially the last team standing.

The Braves, according to sources, offered a package that included prospects they weren't willing to dangle in front of the Mets on Carlos Beltran -- but got shut down. One source who spoke with the Braves' brass Friday came away convinced they were out of it and moving on.

So that leaves the Phillies, who have made Pence far and away their No. 1 target. But because the Phillies and Astros haven't been able to agree on players beyond the Phillies' initial offer, other clubs reported Friday they're now exploring potential three-team deals to put the pieces together.

The reason for that: The Phillies initially offered their two best prospects, pitcher Jarred Cosart and first baseman Jonathan Singleton, and were told that wasn't enough. The Phillies then offered to include their right fielder, Domonic Brown . But the Astros, according to one team that spoke with them, would prefer to spin Brown elsewhere for multiple prospects than take him themselves.

So both clubs have been contacting other teams, trying to construct a creative enough deal to work for everybody. According to an official of one club that got drawn into those talks, the chances of that happening are "50-50." But it sure won't be because they aren't actively trying.

From the beginning, teams involved in the bidding for the Rockies' ace expected this derby to roll all the way into the weekend. And that part of this equation hasn't changed.

Kansas City Zip Code Gains Murderous Reputation | Praise Cleveland ...

Victims ranged from family members to rival drug dealers to innocent bystanders and motives have varied. Some headlines for cases in the area read: ‘Two teens beat a 15-year-old boy to death with a baseball bat to steal his tennis shoes’ and ‘A 19-year-old massacred four family members, including a 9-year-old half-sister, after fighting with his stepfather.’ Sometimes it seemed they killed for no reason at all. “He looked at me wrong,” one assailant told police after killing a man with four shots from a .357-caliber handgun.

Many who became killers said they had few examples of legitimate success to follow in their neighborhoods.  Instead they were drawn to the fast life of hustling, stealing and dealing drugs. Jewelry, stacks of cash and new cars, often displayed by older family members, lured them.

Many think things have only gotten worse.

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