As the pennant races tighten, every game seems to be important. Here are some things I've been thinking about with 1/3 of the baseball season remaining:

Economics continue to play a major role in baseball's pennant races. Imagine, the Chicago White Sox have acquired an everyday outfielder without giving up a player or cash in return. Kenny Williams and the Chicago White Sox claimed Alex Rios from the Toronto Blue Jays off waivers and now have his services for the next 5 1/3 years at the hefty price of 61 million dollars-or somewhere in that neighborhood. And a fine neighborhood it is, thank you. Rios can play center field for Chicago down the stretch drive and move over to right when and if the Sox part ways with Jermaine Dye. For their part, the Blue Jays received salary relief and a roster spot moving forward. Rios really has never lived up to his potential, but he is only 28 years old and entering his prime years. This could be a very good long-term move for the White Sox, who have now assumed the salaries of Rios as well as Jake Peavy since the end of July. Will Peavy be pitching in the post season? Time will tell.

Seattle's Mark Lowe is one heck of a reliever. He has the potential to close for many big league clubs. Lowe's change-up has a 10 mile and hour variation from his fastball. From 99 to 89. How's that! Keep your eye on Mark Lowe. I've always liked him and now he's showing the baseball world what a great arm he has Fastball, slider and change. All for strikes!

Chris Young of the Diamondbacks was sent down to AAA Reno today. The poor guy has been struggling around .192 all season. His swing and timing are out of whack. He still chases hard sliders down and away and has very poor plate discipline and poor knowledge of the strike zone. Young better turn his game around or he could find himself on the outside looking in for 2010. Gerardo Parra has assumed the center field position and Conor Jackson as well as Eric Byrnes and Justin Upton will all be returning from the disabled list soon. What is now a thin outfield could be very crowded by spring training. Parra is struggling defensively, getting poor reads on balls. Young is a fine defensive outfielder. He just can't hit now.

The Mets are a mess as assembled today. Just imagine trying to field a team with the following on the disabled list as noted in the Mets Game Notes of August 10th. It really explains everything about their season:
Carlos Beltran-bone bruise in right knee
Carlos Delgado-right hip impingement
John Maine-right shoulder weakness
Fernando Martinez-surgery on right knee
Ramon Martinez- fractured left pinkie
Jonathon Niese- torn right upper hamstring tendon
Fernando Nieve-muscle tear right thigh
J.J. Putz- surgery to remove bone spur from back of right elbow
Jose Reyes-tendinitis behind right calf
Billy Wagner- recovering from left elbow surgery

The start this week by Pedro Martinez for the Phillies against the Cubs will send Jamie Moyer to the bullpen. Lots of starting pitchers would complain about such a move. Moyer is a true professional. Not only will he try to do his best to contribute, he will help any pitcher on that club that seeks him out.

Rumor has it that the Dodgers are looking at the possibility of signing John Smoltz. I said in previous blogs that I felt Smoltz would not be picked up by another club. Lots of debate on the issue. Joe Torre certainly likes veterans. Does Smoltz have anything left in his tank? I don't mean to start the debate all over again, but I still think he would be much better off hitting the links for the rest of the year and becoming a pitching coach in the future.

What's happened to Francisco Liriano? He is among the league leaders in: losses (11), runs allowed (79), earned runs (74) and walks (55). In 2006, when he was 22 years old he walked 32 and stuck out 144. Arm surgery has a way of making a dominant pitcher struggle to regain his old form. This is taking more time than most people thought.

Dustin Nippert will take Vicente Padilla's spot in the Texas rotation. Nippert has always had a good arm. I saw a ton of his games when he was with Tucson, the AAA club of the Phoenix Diamondbacks and then some with the DBacks. Nippert never did pitch inside to hitters. If he can master that, he'll be tough to hit. I have a hunch Nolan Ryan will cure him of the "pitching inside yips."

Trent Oeltjen, a native of Australia, has done a nice job filling in for the Diamondbacks in the outfield during the absence of Justin Upton. While he doesn't figure in the long range plans, he is making some baseball scouts take a good look. He has shown power (3 home runs in a week) and speed, with three stolen bases.

Gary Sheffield is still amazingly dangerous with a bat in his hand standing at home plate. He still has outstanding bat speed. If he's healthy, he can really change a game. But that's a big "if."

Some guys in the big leagues are really, really playing beneath the radar. My candidates for guys that don't get the national publicity they deserve include:
Jason Bartlett
Aaron Hill
Asdrubal Cabrera
Josh Johnson
Pablo Sandoval
Ricky Romero
Nolan Reimold
Gordon Beckham
those are just a few-I'm sure there are many more

I don't get it--why in the world is Matt Kemp hitting so far down in the Dodgers batting order? He gets fewer opportunities to knock in runs and use all his tools. He's too good to be a lower third of the order hitter.

Here's another thing I don't get. Why in the world is Grady Sizemore still playing with a messed up elbow? He should have the surgery now and begin his rehab. It could get worse as he plays. The team isn't going anywhere, why play him?

David Wright has only 8 home runs to date. That's worth repeating. David Wright has only 8 home runs to date. That's at home and on the road combined.

The Arizona Fall League begins Tuesday, October 13th. I'll be there every day bringing you reports of the upcoming major league stars. It's a great time for baseball with clubs sending many of their best prospects to compete against top shelf players.

Troy Tulowitzki has something to prove, doesn't he? The man can still hit. A cycle for him tonight. Don't sleep on the Rockies or the Marlins. They both are motivated and they are both playing very good baseball. The Dodgers slip is beginning to show.

I leave you tonight with this thought: Will we ever see the tools of B.J. Upton?