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Two years after the Cardinals signed Sonny Gray as a free agent to headline their pitching, pitching, pitching offseason, the veteran right-handed waived his no-trade clause and renogiated his deal to allow a trade to Boston and underscore the Cardinals' new direction.

Pivoting, pivoting, pivoting.

In a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball, baseball writer Derrick Goold and editor Nathan Mills discuss the fallout from the Sonny Gray trade. They explore the next group of Cardinals likely to be traded with Mills giving a rundown of the left-handed batters and one left-handed pitcher that are generating interest from other teams and what players would be wisest to trade. The $20 million sent with Gray to the Red Sox in exchanage for two young talents, starters Brandon Clarke and Richard Fitts, is a sign of what the Cardinals are willing to pay for younger, cost-controlled talent. So what does that say about the Cardinals' willingness to cover millions of Nolan Arenado's contract to spur a trade of another All-Star?

The discussion arrives at a juncture for the Cardinals.

For years, the club and its fans have been defined by an urgency about what the game today or the move today did to help them win the next World Series. Now, the question seems to have shifted to what the move did today to help them win their next World Series -- in the future, whenever that is. During his press conference following the Gray trade, Chaim Bloom said the urgency fans expect and the long-term view the Cardinals have adopted can coexist, and he added that he welcomes the pressure such urgency puts on their daily decisions, even if the goal is in the distance.

Plus! Questions from chatters and a Thanksgiving thank you to the community of BPIB listerns who have made the podast possible going back to its earliest days of recording in a attic.

In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

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Welcome to the great plains. When next Major League Baseball hosts a World Series it will have been a decade since any of thw 10 teams from the Midwest divisions have reached the Fall Classic. They've rarely had a club get as far as the championship series, and the National League Central hasn't won a game in the best-of-seven NLCS since 2018. Oh, and coming out of the pandemic the small-market teams that dot the NL and American League Central divisions have been rocked by revenue turbulence.

All while the games star free agents gather at the coasts.

With that as the background, Cincinnati Enquirer baseball writer Gordon Wittenmyer suggested to Post-Dispatch baseball writer and BPIB host Derrick Goold that they poll as many executives as possible at the General Manager Meetings to ask: Which team in the NL Central is most likely to be the next team to win a World Series? The answers were revealing -- not just for the task, but also for what executives view as the most likely traits a team needs to win.

The "most resources," came up often as the big-city Cubs received the most votes.

Here is the Post-Dispatch story that came from the poll.

And here is the podcast that expands upon the poll to discuss the factors that got the divisions here, how one or more can escape the bind, and whether Major League Baseball is just going to keep soaring above fly-over country until the economic structure of the game changes. The two baseball writers dissect how the Pirates could augment a talented team with a different payroll formula, how the Brewers may lose their edge, how the Cardinals made regain theirs, how the Reds could make a push to the top, how the Cubs could financially squash the competition, and why they don't.

In the end, one of the writers makes his prediction for the NL Central team that will next win a World Series title.

It's a team that just doesn't exist yet.

In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

More Post-Dispatch podcasts.

Please consider subscribing.

Before plunging into the Hot Stove season and the arrival of the GM Meetings, a look at the performances this past season by the top 12 prospects in the Cardinals system, as ranked in the annual Post-Dispatch Dozen. For several years now, baseball writer Daniel Guerrero has ranked the top 12 prospects in the Cardinals organization, but what sets this ranking apart is the eligibility (players cannot have a moment in the majors) and rubric. Each players is considered through the four Ps of Prospects: proximity to majors, overall potential, how prominent and demanding is his position, and, of course, production or performance.

Guerrero joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to explain the process and discuss the 2025 PD 12.

Read even more on his rankings and updates on each player here.

Only one of the 12, catcher Jimmy Crooks, graduated to the majors, leaving 11 incumbents for the 2026 rankings, but there will be some changes to the rankings going into the coming season, as Guerrero and host Derrick Goold discuss. Just not at the No. 1 spot with ascending talent JJ Wetherholt. Though, No. 2 is up for grabs with recent first-round pick Liam Doyle set to throw his fastball into the mix. Also, Guerrero scoops the host on a strong sleeper pick for the 2026 PD 12.

In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.