JUPITER, Fla. • The Diamondback arrived at Cardinals camp with a reminder slung over his shoulder.
Paul Goldschmidt was a Cardinal, and the impact of adding a potential Hall of Famer to a team hungry to regain its relevance was already beginning to bloom.
Yet there remained this nagging hesitation, a reminder as present as that Arizona logo on the bag the first baseman carried with him from the desert.
“Cut the cord already,” a Cardinals teammate razzed Goldschmidt this week, encouraging him to toss the keepsake.
As one young Cardinal crucial to the team’s future shouted across the Roger Dean Stadium clubhouse Thursday: “Guys, I have great news!