JUPITER, FLA. – Before he threw one of the first bullpen sessions of spring training Tuesday morning, Cardinals cornerstone pitcher Adam Wainwright politely called out to his catcher for the morning and introduced himself.

“I’m Adam.”

“I’m Yadi,” the catcher Yadier Molina replied. “Good luck. Hope you can make it.”

Those traditional spring training pleasantries, later sealed with a handshake between the pitcher and catcher who have started more games together than any other tandem in Cardinals history, served as the ceremonial beginning to the 2017 season. The intros were delivered with a grin, and Molina’s hope that Wainwright might “make” the team came with a wink. The short exchange also captured a theme manager Mike Matheny established moments earlier in the clubhouse. Back to basics. Communication. Little things matter.

The Cardinals opened spring training officially Tuesday morning at their Roger Dean Stadium complex with a workout for pitchers and catchers. Position players join Friday. Wainwright and Molina were one of the first pairs to use the mounds, and others followed, including first throws as Cardinals for free-agent reliever Brett Cecil, acquired righthander John Gant and pitcher-outfielder Jordan Schafer. More than a change in personnel, change in roles, or even change in positions are the overall changes the Cardinals intend to make to spring training.

A year ago, the fraying of their game — the flaws that kept them from a sixth consecutive postseason berth — started in spring. They pulled the loose threads from there until the season came undone.

“This is a better team. This is a better team, a better team than we were a year ago,” Matheny said. “One of the things I said this morning is something that Tony (La Russa) said a long time ago, all the time. You start at zero. Every year. Same thing goes no matter how many spring trainings a guy has been to or how many years they’ve had in the big leagues. You would be doing yourself a disservice to be taking anything for granted. … I think there are going to be a lot of things that people might label as little things. I think we’re going to put a lot of focus on many little things. Part of it is defining what those should be. Baserunning is one of those.”

So is defense against base-stealing.

So is defense.

As the Cardinals slipped out of contention last season and finished 86-76, 17½ games behind the division-champion Chicago Cubs, they saw tenets of their usual game erode. This winter’s moves were designed to make the team more athletic and improve the defense, while Matheny and his coaches huddled to look at ways to rethink parts of spring training. Toward the end of last spring, they saw hints of the troubles ahead, saw problems that would define them. This spring they want to see shows of strengths yet to develop.

“As much as you never want to put too much weight on what you’re seeing in spring training and what’s happening, there can be some indicators on what the season may look like,” general manager John Mozeliak said. “I felt last year’s spring training games weren’t as polished as you wanted it to be, and some of that was due to injuries.

Certainly the season played out that way. … I think a good camp would be just a clean defensive camp. That was definitely something that I felt weighed on us last year even more than the baserunning. If you’re pitching and you’re giving up outs, it’s tough. It has a very compounding effect. And it’s not a positive one.”