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Yes. The Scherzer Lesson should echo into this winter.

Can it be a mix of both? There are three, four teams that are close to each other -- and each has significant flaws. The Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals -- to me -- stand above the group, but the Reds on pesky, the Reds are feisty, and the Reds have received better pitching and worse offense than expected, but they've still been a burr in the division race. Josh Bell kept the Pirates afloat for the first half of the season, but they always seemed weaker than the rest. Less depth. Less to really power a division champ. So, what you have is a team that can play spoiler (Reds) and three contenders each of whom has deep issues that could cost them. It's like three streaky hitters. The Cubs cannot win on the road. The Cardinals cannot score. The Brewers just haven't been consistent. This has led to a jumble in the division -- that isn't bad, just meh. The Dodgers are truly the only good-to-great team in the National League. Every other team is, at best, meh because not one of them has been good consistently.

Interesting question. At the trade deadline, I had a source with the team suggest that it would be Flaherty, Mikolas, and Wainwright -- and that any move at the deadline for a starter would have to be measured against the trio. To me, that was a surprise. Hudson had pitched so well to that point that it seemed like he should be in the mix. Maybe he was for that person. At four. Hard to imagine things have changed all that much then. They've got Flaherty for Game 1. Mikolas for the swing in Game 2. Wainwright for a marble game. And then Hudson or Flaherty for that Game 4 and Game 5, etc.That's how it sets up now.

I like the 200 innings, but 1.4 WAR over 200 innings doesn't imply a whole lot of impact. No when you're talking about the kind of pitcher who could change a rotation -- truly transform a team's ability to contend. That's a lot like a handful of the Cardinals pitchers have already provided over fewer innings, and while consistency has huge value -- truly; long-time readers of this chat will be familiar with me beating the innings drum before -- Shields wouldn't have given the quality to go with that quantity. It would have been more of the same with a different name.

Sure seems that way. Shildt's comments to reports in Cincy imply that's the case.

There is ZERO reason for any of them to be "gone this offseason" unless it is via trade. If the Cardinals can move one or two of those outfielders for an upgrade to the pitching rotation or to third base or to the outfield, then by all means that makes sense, and they'll explore those possibilities. But they don't need to give away any of those players while any of them can also be in Memphis in 2020 without an issue.

Gotcha. My fondness for the game comes from my father and grandfather. My dad showed me how to play the game and introduced me to it. My grandfather spoke about the great players he knew -- and listened to on the radio. He traveled a lot for work, so throughout Wisconsin KMOX was his connection to baseball, and thus the Cardinals were his team. I grew up largely without Major League Baseball -- something I've written about before, but came into relief again this past week. I got to sneak away to spend a few days with my son, a teenager. At his age, MLB was 12 hours away. There wasn't a ballpark in downtown Denver for me to watch a game. There was for him -- and that was what he wanted to do with our days together: go see a few games at Coors Field. He wanted a connection to where I grew up and that came through baseball. And now where I grew up could offer him a team and a game and a ballpark at age 13 that I only dreamed about having at the same age.

He shouldn't. There's no indication he will. And I get where you're coming from with Rendon. Before Goldschmidt arrived it sure seemed like the Cardinals were lining up with a roster made for a run at Rendon, and he was going to be pitched to them. Not too long ago, when discussing a handful of Boras clients and how they would fit with the Cardinals I was told Rendon was the best fit. Thought maybe the answer would be Cole. Regardless, there's no indication from the Cardinals that they intend to chase after Rendon. But ... and here is the but ... third base is a place they'll consider because Carpenter can play elsewhere, and the Cardinals see possible places for upgrade at left, right, and third when they scan their current position players. Carpenter would move around to accommodate. That was part of how the Cardinals explained the extension.

Please be more specific so I can better. But here goes: Many of the advanced metrics are geared toward 100 being average, so that you know an OPS+ of 120 is well above average and a 90 OPS+ ain't so hot compared to average. Same with a 82 ERA and a 141 ERA+. Giovanny Gallegos for example has a 209 ERA+. So, that's pretty darn good. Wins Above Replacement, WAR, is also similarly set -- 0.0 is replacement level stuff, or a player that can readily be grabbed off waivers or out of the minors. From there each notch is the win the players adds to the team. From Baseball-Reference.com: "8+ MVP Quality, 5+ All-Star Quality, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Reserve." That's a rough scale. As far as OPS? Well, think of it terms of its components. To get to a .900 OPS it would take a .400 on-base percentage and a .500 slugging percentage -- both of which are elite, and if that means a .350 on-base percentage and a .550 slugging percentage then the player is still elite and if it's a .450 on-base percentage and a .450 slugging percentage then the player should be a leadoff hitter and would be elite at that.