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As baseball's annual winter meetings continue, the Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman have the action in Florida covered from all angles.

Here's a look at what you missed from Tuesday's coverage:

ORLANDO, Fla. — Allowed to dream about a rare pair of back-to-back top-five picks in the Major League Baseball draft to lift their future plans, the Cardinals instead experienced a thud.

With a slim chance at the top overall pick but a reasonable shot at climbing once again into the lottery picks — the top six — the Cardinals ran afoul of the probabilities Tuesday night and slid out of the top 10. In MLB’s draft lottery results, revealed Tuesday evening at the winter meetings, the Cardinals dropped from the eighth-best odds for the No. 1 pick to the 13th pick.

After back-to-back years landing a pick within the first seven selections of the MLB draft, the Cardinals will pick outside of the top 10 come July 2026.

The Cardinals, who entered Tuesday's draft lottery at the winter meetings in Orlando, Florida, with the eighth-best odds to land the No. 1 overall pick, dropped to the No. 13 spot.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Admittedly, I didn’t know how to phrase the question.

On Tuesday at the Winter Meetings, Albert Pujols sat next Nelson Cruz. The great Pujols is the manager of the Dominican Republic’s team in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, while Cruz is the general manager. Cruz, of course, was thiiiiiis close to catching David Freese’s Game 6 triple in the 2011 World Series. Instead of catching the final out of the Rangers’ first championship, Cruz and the Texas Rangers lost Game 6 … and Game 7 to the now 11-time world champion ӣ����Ƶ Cardinals.

ORLANDO, Fla. — On the eve of these winter meetings near Disney World, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol put in a call to one of the players most teams are calling about.

“Talking to Donny yesterday,” Marmol said, “his head is in a really good spot.”

ORLANDO, Fla. — Right before every home at-bat, JJ Wetherholt became entranced by a certain song. His walk-up music last season was Hulvey’s “All For You,” a song Wetherholt recently told me “can relax the nerves, and you remember, like, it’s not just really all about me.”

The Christian rap song included a particular lyric: “I can't lose my soul trying to make history.”

ORLANDO, Fla. — Depending on the ways trade winds rewrite their roster and jostle the depth this winter, the Cardinals could reach spring training with as few as one chiseled-in everyday player at a position or as many as seven, maybe eight.

They could have All-Stars returning to three positions.

ORLANDO, Fla. — As Skip Schumaker fielded questions from Winter Meetings media members, a familiar face caught the eye of the Texas skipper. Seated among the scribes was smirking ӣ����Ƶ manager Oli Marmol, who slipped into the rows of writers to watch his old bench coach and buddy.

A few minutes later, Schumaker was asked what’s the most important part of the job.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Greetings from Orlando and the site of the Winter Meetings. Juggling a few assignments here at the moment -- story posting, video next, and I'll get your questions in here too -- just let me get settled and this file going.

We have plenty to discuss, no doubt.