Early in the season, the Dodgers looked strong.  They had the best record in the majors even after their slugger Manny Ramirez was suspended.  Slowly, the Cardinals and Phillies got rolling, and lately, you hear a lot about the Cards, with the mid-season addition of Matt Holliday as being the best team in the NL.  Well, much like a certain New York owner that always wanted the backpages for his team, the Dodgers made late some late night acquisitions that could propel them back to being the lead in the conversations.  Jon Garland, who has struggled on and off this year in AZ will bolster a pitching staff that has been battling for a while now.  Garland also has a fair amount of post-season experience, which can only help some of the young players on the Dodgers staff.

Jim Thome seems like an odd pick-up, and all the reports say that Thome said he can’t play first base anymore.  How do you forget how to play first base?  OK, so that leaves Thome coming off the bench for the last month of the season, which is a serious help to the team.  If they also make it to the World Series, Thome makes a real DH for the Dodgers, and will most definitely give them a fighting chance.

The really amazing part is that Kenny Williams was able to pull off the Thome deal, and also one that sent Contreras to the Rockies yesterday.  It sounds from the buzz that he received some promising young players back, though both are far from helping the White Sox. He managed to clear some payroll for this year and next, and make some room for some of those September call-up to play.  Now he can see what he really has for next season, when the White Sox can be in it from the beginning.

Interestingly, when I talk about long-term planning, I usually suggest that the GM be given a longer contract than the normal 2-3 year deal so the GM has less incentive to sell the long-term needs of the club out for the short-term prospect of winning.  Williams has a one year contract.  Because of that, he also has more of an incentive to stay looking at the big picture.  No deadline for accountability has been put in place, so he is free to look at years ahead and today and weigh the two against each other without some arbitrary deadline looming.  When the organization as a whole starts going down hill, that is when team owner Jerry Reinsdorf can come and question whether Williams is the right man for the job.  Just like in many other businesses.

So the White Sox have virtually conceded to the Tigers which should allow them to relax a bit and give some of their older guys a little bit of a breather over this last month.   The Rockies got a solid pitcher, who, though struggling should help them through this last month and should help the younger pitchers in the playoff race.  Colorado is still in a neck and neck time with San Francisco- and while Giant pitching is still better, the Rockies should be able to out hit anyone.  Hopefully, Contreras is able to slow the other team’s production just enough. He has to be better than Adam Eaton, who the Rockies sent to the minors this week. The Giants also have a tougher schedule the rest of the way.  There will be something to watch over this next month.

So, this waiver period was an exciting one.  Billy Wagner went to Boston. Scott Kazmir went to the Angels.  Aubrey Huff went to the Tigers. Those plus some tiny deals, like Carl Pavano going to the Twins and David Weathers going to the Brewers made August as exciting as July really.  Think I like it.