New Year. Same questions. Back from a holiday break, Post-Dispatch staff writers Derrick Goold and Ben Frederickson discuss the concerns facing the Cardinals through the lens of offseason negotiations. The Colorado Rockies are exploring trades involving Nolan Arenado, and the Cardinals have long been fascinated by adding the Gold Glove-winning third baseman to their lineup. Is the conversation different today than it was 12 months ago -- and why? And should it matter? The two writers also explore the semantics of deals, how they as reporters could do a better job describing and articulating what teams are actually talking about, how trades develop and happen, and why saying a team talked to an agent might not mean anything at all. Enter Marcell Ozuna. The Cardinals remain in conversation with Ozuna's agent about the free-agent left fielder and their most recent cleanup hitter. The question facing the Cardinals, as Frederickson points out, is this: If not Marcell Ozuna, then who? There is also a contest! Win a copy of Goold's Cardinals book by posting a picture on Twitter of where you listened to BPIB, and be sure to send it too @Ben_Fred or @dgoold and add #BPIB. The Best Podcast in Baseball is a production of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. It can be found on iTunes and anywhere you get your podcasts.

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