if you're just joining us . . . .

. . . .here’s a quick review of what we’ve learned so far this offseason:

the cardinals made a historic addition to their rotation in mark mulder: he’s the franchise’s winningest offseason mound acquisition in over half a century.

bruce sutter is no hall-of-fame pitcher, although we admit he threw one hell of a single-fingered screwball.

the new st louis 2b apparently has never been seen in the same room with fernando vina, and the new shortstop’s lack of range isn’t necessarily a crippling liability. we also learned that the cardinals’ succession of long-tenured shortstops makes it one of the most stable positions in all of baseball.

yadier molina is the youngest everyday catcher for a defending league champ since before 1960; the cardinals, however, have an excellent track record with very young catchers.

of late we discovered that the cardinals are likely the first team in mlb history to open a season with five reigning 15+-game-winners in the rotation; also the first pennant winner in at least 30 years to open their title defense with new starters at both ss and 2b.

finally, we learned to our chagrin that runaway division champs tend to miss the playoffs the following year unless they are the new york yankees or the atlanta braves.