What tone must Cardinals set during spring training? Follow the leaders

As Cardinals prepare for the official opening of spring training, what tone must be set early and what lessons from last year's losing season and curious spring will inform this year's camp? St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson joins baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss how more than just the Cardinals' spring training facilities in Jupiter, Florida, need an overhaul. The roster received one. The club suggests the leadership in the clubhouse is next for a dash of retro restoration. In a brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball, the two writers detail the new look of the bullpen and four of the team leaders who will help shape what the team looks like and achieves during spring training. Is the certainty of some positions a better place to start than the competition advertised a year ago? Why does the Cardinals approach with the bullpen seem so similar to how they viewed the rotation a year ago -- and is a similar outcome inevitable? (This podcast was recorded before the Cardinals reached an agreement pending physical with right-handed reliever Keynan Middleton.) The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold and other sports columnists and reporters discuss the St. Louis Cardinals, MLB and anything tangentially related to the national pastime and the city that adores it.