The Major League Baseball trade deadline has passed, which means like any other baseball fan, it will take me a month to figure out which players belong to which team.
It's even worse this season, because this trade deadline was one of the most chaotic in recent memory.
Kris Bryant is a San Francisco Giant. Joey Gallo is a New York Yankee. Max Scherzer is - yuck! - a Los Angeles Dodger.
The Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals were sellers. The wild, wild N.L. West of the Dodgers, Giants and San Diego Padres were buyers. And several teams fell in the middle.
Among those falling in the middle were the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals.
That's not surprising of the Royals, who were hot in April but have sputtered since. But just before the trade deadline, Kansas City had won eight of its last nine games.
Jorge Soler did the Royals a favor, posting back-to-back two-home run games to become appealing enough to the Atlanta Braves, who traded for him Friday.
Danny Duffy has had two stints on the injured list, but the Dodgers can never have enough pitching, so they traded for him as well, giving the left-hander another chance at a World Series ring.
Soler wasn't coming back to Kansas City after this season, so it was big for the Royals to get something in return for his departure. Duffy's contract also expires at the end of this season, but Royals fans have high hopes he'll be back with the team next season.
All in all, the Royals did about as well as expected at the deadline. And don't worry, Bobby Witt Jr. will be in the big leagues by mid-May next season, so the rebuild is coming along on schedule.
Now for the Cardinals, whose fans are rarely pleased at the trade deadline these days.
I can't remember the last time the Cardinals were sellers at the trade deadline, and I don't believe that has happened in the 25 years under the ownership of Bill DeWitt Jr. Then again, when have the Cardinals been in a position to be sellers?
Problem is, they haven't been big buyers at the trade deadline, either.
St. Louis made a few small-sized splashes before 3 p.m. Friday, trading for a pair of left-handed pitchers in J.A. Happ and Jon Lester. That shores up one of their biggest weaknesses this season, which is a starting rotation that has been depleted by injuries.
Others will argue they needed to address their bullpen issues. That's fair. But I would argue the bullpen is struggling because starting pitching - outside of Adam Wainwright - hasn't consistently gone deep into games, causing bullpen pitchers to pick up the slack and become overexposed.
As for position players, my assessment is the Cardinals are fine in that department. Judging from social media, some fans wanted them to trade for Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, but that would have meant the Cardinals would have to give away some of their top prospects in return.
Believe me, you don't want the Cardinals to do that. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak agrees.
"We wanted to try to do it in a way that we wouldn't be giving up a lot of future talent; that was something that was sort of critical in our decision-making," Mozeliak said Friday before the Cardinals' series opener against the Minnesota Twins.
That's a quote that raises red flags for Cardinals fans who want the team to make the postseason in 2021. Well, I've got bad news for those fans with that high of hopes. Even with a blockbuster trade, it was going to take a 2011-like rally for the Cardinals to knock one of the "Big Three" in the N.L. West out of a playoff spot, let alone catching the Milwaukee Brewers for the N.L. Central division lead.
The Cardinals aren't giving up on 2021, they're just not going "all in."
But I still say things are looking up. St. Louis is 8-6 since the All-Star break, and they still have 10 games to play against the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates. Also, they have 13 games remaining against the Brewers, and winning those head-to-head matchups is the quickest way to climb the standings.
The reason some Cardinals fans want to win now is because of the opt-out clauses in Nolan Arenado's contract. I get that nervousness - although I do think he will stay - but management was looking at the big picture here.
In order to trade for a Story or even a Scherzer, St. Louis would have had to part with a Nolan Gorman or a Matthew Liberatore, a Jordan Walker or a Masyn Winn. You don't want them to do that. Those guys - at least a few of them - are future All-Stars.
John Gant and Lane Thomas very likely aren't, which made them perfect pieces for Happ and Lester. And once Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas return from the injured list - soon, I hope - the Cardinals will finally have that experience and depth in their starting rotation for a late-season push.
And say what you will about Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, but there's one thing you can't argue. His teams have played well in September, which is when you want to peak.
Just give the process a chance.