JUPITER, Fla. • Whether it was mentioned Monday during the first complete team meeting of the season or not, the Cardinals’ absence from the postseason has a presence as much as any player this spring training.
And there, posted near the clubhouse door Monday before the team’s first full-squad workout, was a sign that outlined bedrock elements of manager Mike Shildt’s first camp. Below those tenets — “trust, prepare, execute, celebrate” — was a list of the Cardinals’ 11 World Series titles, by year, in a four-by-three grid.
“It doesn’t taste real good. It doesn’t taste real good at all,” Shildt said.