It would only be the SP who wouldn't be quite up to strength (maybe), and most aren't going deep enough for it to matter now anyway. I'd be fine the September bit if you can't replace any pitcher who (say) throws more than 50 pitches for at least four days.
Maybe, but Suzuki has played the last six years in Oakland, Minnesota, and Atlanta so it's not like he went to prime places. He also earned 1.5M last year and 3.5M this year, so even bumping him up to Zunino's range may be enough to get him.
It had already bounced back some in the second half. I don't think they're wrong to sell high on Smith, I'm just surprised to see them take a more expensive ~2 WAR catcher with less years of control. They probably could have signed someone like Kurt Suzuki and gotten similar results at a similar price, in addition to getting something else for Smith.
I think you'll see more of an emphasis on guys without significant platoon splits higher in the order. Benches are so thin you can't really spare people for a 1st inning matchup on offense.
Reminds me of another article today about an NFL quarterback who was pissing the coaches off by ignoring the video they were giving him to watch (but said he watched them). They started sending him blank videos, then waited to see how deep he'd dig himself.