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If you're a regular MLBTR reader, you'll be familiar with our chats, our Week In Review posts and Mike Axisa's Baseball Blogs Weigh In feature. Here's some more detail on when you'll see our weekly features and exactly what to expect from them:

• MLBTR Chats - Come by every Wednesday at 2pm CDT to chat about the latest trades, signings and rumblings around the Major Leagues.
• Baseball Blogs Weigh In - Every Friday morning, Mike Axisa directs you to some of the best writing on baseball blogs around the web. Whether it's opinion, stats or something else entirely, you can connect to the best of the blogosphere once a week on MLBTR. If you want to send Mike a post of yours, reach him at: mike@riveraveblues.com.
• Week In Review - It's remarkable how much happens in seven days. Every Sunday night, we summarize the week's biggest stories in our Week In Review posts.
• MLBTR Originals - We gather all our original analysis and reporting in one place every Sunday night.

Few teams have open 40-man roster space once rosters swell to accommodate late season reinforcements in September. In the last week alone teams have purchased the contracts of 37 players, including prospects such as Jurickson Profar and Shelby Miller, veterans like Fred Lewis and Xavier Nady and a variety of others. The result: just five teams have open 40-man roster space. 

The Royals (two open spots), Angels (two open spots), Brewers (two open spots), Twins (one open spot) and Reds (one open spot) are the only MLB teams that presently have open 40-man spots, according to MLBDepthCharts.com. These clubs are well-positioned to claim someone should an intriguing player be placed on waivers.

For context there were six waiver claims last September, eight waiver claims in 2010 (remarkably three of them involved Cesar Carrillo) and five waiver claims in 2009. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently recapped some of the best waiver claims of the past year.

Keep in mind that the 25 teams with full 40-man rosters could create roster space by moving a player to the 60-day disabled list or by releasing, outrighting or designating for assignment a rostered player.

The December non-tender deadline is an often-overlooked part of MLB’s offseason schedule, but it’s a significant day. The free agent market is flooded with a couple dozen reinforcements following the annual deadline for teams to extend offers of arbitration to their eligible players. Some of those non-tenders rebound with strong seasons, often in new environments. 

Teams non-tender players for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the clubs would rather risk losing the players to rival teams than go through the potentially expensive arbitration process. In other cases, teams don't have 40-man roster spots to spare or they view players as injury risks.

In total 29 players were non-tendered last offseason and a handful of them have added value for their current organizations. Here’s a look at some 2011 non-tenders who are contributing so far in 2012:

• Jose Mijares, Giants (non-tendered by Twins) – The left-hander has a 2.86 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 50 1/3 total innings with the Royals and Giants. He's arbitration eligible again this offseason so he’ll be back in San Francisco — unless the Giants non-tender him again.
• Aaron Laffey, Blue Jays (non-tendered by Royals) – Laffey has made 11 starts and six relief appearances with the Blue Jays, posting a 4.46 ERA in 78 2/3 innings with Toronto.
• Joe Saunders, Orioles (non-tendered by Diamondbacks) – The Diamondbacks re-signed Saunders for $6MM — less than he would have obtained going through the arbitration process — and obtained 130 solid innings from him before sending him to Baltimore last month. In 141 2/3 total innings, Saunders has a 4.26 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9.
• Mike Baxter, Mets (non-tendered by Mets) – The outfielder has a .285/.390/.444 batting line in 172 plate appearances with the Mets. Terry Collins has limited Baxter's exposure to left-handers this year.
• Jeff Keppinger, Rays (non-tendered by Giants) – As I explained yesterday, Keppinger is adding lots of value with his versatility and bat. The lefty-masher is hitting .328/.375/.443 in 2012.
• Pedro Ciriaco, Red Sox (non-tendered by Pirates) – Ciriaco has played second base, third base, shortstop and all three outfield positions for the Red Sox this year while posting a .312/.324/.422 batting line and stealing ten bases in as many attempts. An unexpectedly valuable pickup by GM Ben Cherington.
• Ryan Theriot, Giants (non-tendered by Cardinals) – Theriot has picked up lots of playing time in San Francisco, posting a .265/.314/.313 batting line in 364 plate appearances.
• Luke Scott, Rays (non-tendered by Orioles) – Scott has 13 home runs but he's hitting just .223/.274/.439 in Tampa Bay and missed time with a strained oblique and back spasms.

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Commissioner Bud Selig's special committee for on-field issues has talking about late-season roster expansion at length and there is increasing momentum to change the rules by next season, multiple industry sources have told Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.  The current plan would still allow teams to expand rosters in the final month of the season but would require clubs to designate which players are eligible before each game.

The most popular scenario being discussed is to expand September rosters to 30, with each club's 25-man roster on August 31 being locked in throughout September.  Locking in the rosters at the end of August would prevent teams from de-activating the starters not pitching in a particular game in order to load up with four additional minor leaguers. 

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez and Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly have both spoken out in favor of changes to the September roster rules.  Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who is a member of Selig's committee, said that tweaking the rules would make sense "for a number of reasons".

Blockbuster trades generate lots of excitement, but not all rumors turn into reality. Some of the possible trade scenarios that dominated MLBTR early on this season never actually happened. Let's revisit five of those non-trades with an eye on the coming offseason:

1. Justin Upton, Diamondbacks – The Upton rumors have subsided, but I doubt they've disappeared for good. The Diamondbacks don’t appear to have ruled out the possibility of an offseason trade involving Upton, who has a .765 OPS since the beginning of August.
2. Cliff Lee, Phillies – The Phillies aren’t eager to trade Lee, but moving him would create some flexibility for a team with considerable commitments to its 2013 payroll. The left-hander is guaranteed $25MM per season through 2015 and his contract includes a $12.5MM buyout for a vesting option in 2016. The Dodgers, the only team with more 2013 commitments than the Phillies, are obviously not intimidated by his contract.
3. Matt Garza, Cubs – Garza drew considerable interest leading up to the trade deadline, but he hasn't pitched since. A stress reaction in the back of his pitching elbow will sideline him for the remainder of the 2012 season and GM Jed Hoyer expects the right-hander will return in 2013, his final season before hitting free agency. If the Cubs do trade Garza this winter they figure to have less leverage than they did in July, when he appeared to be healthy.
4. Josh Johnson, Marlins – The Marlins reportedly sought a Mark Teixeira-like package for Johnson when they listened to offers for him midseason. He'll earn $13.75MM in 2013, the final year of his contract with Miami. Most teams can handle that kind of commitment for a pitcher coming off of a strong season (3.86 ERA, 140 strikeouts and 51 walks in 165 1/3 innings) so he'll draw lots of interest if the Marlins make him available again. It'd be a surprise if they obtained a franchise-altering collection of prospects for Johnson, however.
5. Chase Headley, Padres – Headley, the National League’s player of the month for August, has been on an extended hot streak since the non-waiver trade deadline. He has hit .331/.369/.653 with 12 home runs in the 31 games he's played, boosting his trade value to new heights. There’s no guarantee Josh Byrnes will look to trade Headley this offseason — the Padres could look to contend — but if he does there will be a long list of GMs interested in seeing what the 28-year-old could do in a more hitter-friendly environment. Headley, who's under team control through 2014, is an offseason extension candidate.

Others such as James Shields, Cole Hamels, Jason Vargas, Carlos Quentin, Alfonso Soriano, Huston Street, Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau get honorable mentions.

It's officially September, but the trading season isn't necessarily over. Here's what you need to know about dealmaking after August.

Trading in September is a lot like trading in August. Players who have cleared waivers can be traded to any team. However, to be eligible for postseason play a player must be on the active roster, disabled list, bereavement list, or suspended list of that club as of midnight EDT on August 31st, as Keith Law explained in this article. Because of that rule, most deals occur before September. 

Trades do happen in September, since acquisitions can help teams reach the playoffs. For example, the Phillies famously traded for Sparky Lyle in September of 1980. Lyle was a major contributor for the '80 Phillies team, even though he wasn't able to play in the postseason en route to the team's first World Series title.

More recently, players such as Kila Ka'aihue, Octavio Dotel and Willie Bloomquist have been dealt in the final full month of regular season play, as MLBTR's Mike Axisa explained three days ago. PTBNLs are often determined in September, too.

A version of this post was first published in 2009.

While teams like the Dodgers and Yankees have already committed to nine-figure payrolls in 2013, others have less than $15MM committed to the '13 roster. Cot’s Baseball Contracts has compiled each team’s payroll obligations for 2013. Here's the list, starting with the largest commitments:

• Dodgers, $193.8MM
• Phillies, $133.1MM
• Yankees, $119.1MM
• Cardinals, $92.8MM
• Angels, $92.3MM
• Tigers, $90.2MM
• Rangers, $84.4MM
• White Sox, $83.3MM
• Giants, $81.0MM
• Reds, $74.1MM
• Twins, $68.3MM
• Marlins, $67.5MM
• Blue Jays, $61.3MM
• Nationals, $58.6MM
• Diamondbacks, $55.0MM
• Mets, $54.5MM
• Orioles, $53.2MM
• Brewers, $52.4MM
• Rockies, $46.5MM
• Red Sox, $45.6MM
• Cubs, $41.8MM
• Mariners, $40.5MM
• Royals, $34.9MM
• Pirates, $27.9MM
• Padres, $26.0MM
• Athletics, $23.0MM
• Rays, $18.6MM
• Braves, $15.2MM
• Indians, $11MM
• Astros, $5.5MM

Please note that these figures don't include club or vesting options or figures for players whose salaries will be determined via the arbitration process. The totals include commitments to players no longer in the organization.

Although the non-waiver trade deadline passed a month ago, teams are still able to swing deals via the waiver process through the end of the season. However, last night was the deadline to acquire a player and have him be eligible for the playoff roster. Because of that, the month of September is usually a slow one on the trade rumor circuit. 

With some help from our Transaction Tracker, here's a recap of some notable recent September transactions from the last three years…

Trades

• Sean Rodriguez  – traded by Angels to Rays as player to named later in Scott Kazmir trade in 2009.
• Willie Bloomquist – traded by Royals to Reds in 2010.
• Octavio Dotel — traded by Dodgers to Rockies in 2010.
• Mike Zagurski — traded by Phillies to Diamondbacks in 2011.
• Kila Ka'aihue — traded by Royals to Athletics in 2011.

Extensions

• Ryan Franklin — two-year, $6.5MM extension with Cardinals in 2009.
• Trever Miller — two-year, $4MM extension with Cardinals in 2009.
• Chris Carpenter — two-year, $21MM extension with Cardinals in 2011.
• Tim Byrdak — one-year extension with Mets in 2011.
• Lance Berkman — one-year, $12MM extension with Cardinals in 2011.
• Omar Infante — two-year, $8MM extension with Marlins in 2011.
• Sergio Santos — three-year, $8.25MM extension with White Sox in 2011.

Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Marmol and Roy Oswalt are the only players known to have cleared waivers so far this month (not counting the long list of players who have been traded). But we know other players have been placed on waivers, even though some of the details surrounding those cases remain unclear. Here's a list of the players that have been placed on revocable waivers this month, along with what we know about each player:

• Cliff Lee, Phillies – claimed and pulled back by Philadelphia.
• Carlos Lee, Marlins – was on waivers August 2nd. Has either cleared waivers or been claimed and pulled back by Miami. 
• Mike Aviles, Red Sox – was on waivers August 10th. Has either cleared waivers or been claimed and pulled back by Boston.
• Aaron Cook, Felix Doubront and Andrew Miller, Red Sox – were on waivers August 16th. Have either cleared waivers or been claimed and pulled back by Boston. 
• Edinson Volquez, Padres – was on waivers last week. Has either cleared waivers or been claimed and pulled back by San Diego. 
• Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox – placed on waivers four days ago. Have either cleared waivers or been claimed and pulled back by Boston.
• Justin Upton, Diamondbacks – claimed off of waivers by several teams. If Arizona places him on waivers again this year the waivers will no longer be revocable.
• Scott Hairston and Andres Torres, Mets - placed on waivers two days ago. Hairston has been claimed and could be traded. Torres could still be claimed.
• Jason Vargas and Kevin Millwood, Mariners – placed on waivers recently.
• Daisuke Matsuzaka, Red Sox – placed on waivers recently.
• Justin Morneau, Twins – claimed off of waivers by an unknown team. No deal expected.

Please note: This post concerns players placed on revocable Major League waivers. Many other players have been placed on release waivers or outright waivers, but those waivers are irrevocable — teams can't pull players back off of irrevocable waivers. This post was first published on August 23rd.