Is there a repeat in Cards?

Since the Yankees strung together three championships from 1998-2000, there have been six different World Series winners, proof that repeating is so hard to do. When you consider that the Cardinals won last year's title after winning 83 regular-season games and getting no respect nationally (including from yours truly), you wouldn't rush to declare them the team that will break the string of singles.

But a closer look tells you the Cardinals have a few important components:

The manager, Tony La Russa, has two championship rings and is widely regarded as one of the best in the game.

The ace, Chris Carpenter, might have won back-to-back Cy Young Awards had he not gone on the disabled list in early June.

Defensively, Yadier Molina is one of the best catchers, and they have a terrific center fielder and leader in Jim Edmonds and an excellent double-play combo in David Eckstein and Adam Kennedy.

The best player: Albert Pujols.

The best defensive player and power hitter: third baseman Scott Rolen (it doesn't seem to matter that he and La Russa don't speak to one another).

And the closer, Jason Isringhausen, is healthy again.

"I think we have an outstanding team again," said Carpenter. "I think every team in our division has gotten better, but we have, too. I think we showed last year the heart that we have as a collective group. There weren't many people who believed we could win the World Series, but in our locker room, as we started to get all of our guys back healthy and were able to put out the same lineup for the playoffs in San Diego that we did in April, we knew it could happen."

Carpenter, who was 15-8 with a 3.09 ERA in 32 starts, finished third in Cy Young voting after winning in 2005. He got his 100th career victory Sept. 16 and he was rewarded for his work with a five-year, $65 million contract.

"I can't say I was disappointed not winning [the Cy Young Award] back-to-back," Carpenter said. "When you win the World Series, all of that stuff with individual awards goes away. I'll finish third every year for the rest of my career if it means winning the World Series again."

Carpenter thinks the Cardinals have managed the offseason banquet circuit well. He's had a slew of requests for appearances, but he's tried to pick and choose while also trying to spend time at the family homes in St. Louis, Florida, and Bedford, N.H.

"I think it's like any team that wins a championship," Carpenter said. "There are always going to be more demands, but I think we've done a good job in trying to make as normal of an offseason as possible. There are things you have to take care of and workouts you have to be diligent with.

"Once we get to spring training, it might be different. Maybe the excitement gets going again, but we'll have to deal with that as well."

At the St. Louis Baseball Writers Awards dinner, 1,700 people filled a local hotel ballroom at $150 a head. The Cardinals went to the White House last week for a gathering with President Bush, where Carpenter got to see former teammate Jeff Suppan, who left the team as a free agent to sign with rival Milwaukee.

"We had a close-knit group of guys here," Carpenter said. "It's great to have Mark [Mulder] back, and it's too bad about Soup, but he's going to make that Milwaukee staff that much better. Everyone's just itching to get back so we can put this together again."

Carpenter understands his worth to the Cardinals and everything the No. 1 role entails.

"For me, it's all about being healthy, No. 1," Carpenter said. "When I'm healthy, I can go out there and do the job. And the second thing is hard work. When you pitch at this level, you have to do everything it takes between starts to get yourself ready to go back out there and pitch."

Picking a team to repeat never looks good. And the Cardinals are up against a souped-up NL Central that looks far more formidable than it did a year ago.

"You look at Houston with Carlos Lee and the Cubs with [Alfonso] Soriano and re-signing Aramis Ramirez," said Carpenter. "They added pitching. They're going to be very tough.

"The Reds are always difficult with their pitching and hitting, and the Pirates have really improved now, adding Adam LaRoche. Look at Milwaukee with that pitching staff. It's going to be a very competitive division and a bigger challenge because, like I said, everyone has improved.

"But we have a front office with Walt [Jocketty] and Tony that knows how to put the pieces together. It's exciting moving forward."

Repeat? The trend says no. But who on earth picked the Cardinals last season?

Mitchell may turn up heat

CEO Larry Lucchino feels the Red Sox have been very cooperative in former Senator George Mitchell's steroid probe.

"I believe we have," said Lucchino, who represented the Sox at the quarterly owners meetings in Phoenix last week. "And we will continue to do so. The credibility of his report requires the comprehensive cooperation of every club. We have made that commitment, and we renewed it at the ownership meetings in Arizona."

The Globe's Gordon Edes learned that last week Mitchell's investigators, with the consent of the team's legal staff, took several computers belonging to Sox personnel, and are believed to have done the same with several other clubs. Among the Sox computers taken were those used by clubhouse personnel, including equipment managers and the team's traveling secretary, Jack McCormick.

Sox owners were asked if they had concerns about the seizure of the computers, specifically whether it raised concerns that investigators suspected steroid use among their players.

"Any review of documents must, of course, these days, include a review of e-mails related to the subject," Lucchino said in an e-mail yesterday.

Mitchell seems frustrated in speaking to current players and organizations about what they knew about steroids. With no subpoena power, Mitchell doesn't have the juice (pardon the pun) to enforce much of anything. But why wouldn't teams cooperate?

The comments of an executive with an American League team were reflective of what I heard from others: "I think what's happening is they're asking questions about steroids and they're not getting the answers they want to hear. It feels as though they don't believe us. When we tell them they don't know who's using steroids or when they tell them they've never seen anyone using steroids, maybe Mitchell is getting frustrated by the answers. But I know the cooperation has been there. At least I can speak for my team." Mitchell told the owners, "I believe it will be in your best interests, and the best interests of baseball, if I can report that I have received full cooperation from your organizations, and from others, in conducting this investigation."

Mitchell used the threat of the sport having to answer to Congress if he doesn't get answers.

Now with the Orioles, Payton appreciates his place

A few questions for Orioles outfielder Jay Payton, who played in Boston for half a season (2005) before being traded to Oakland.

Q. How excited are you about getting back to the AL East?

JP: "Very excited, for a lot of reasons. I've moved to North Carolina, where most of my family is, so it'll be pretty close to where I live. That part's great. The other thing is getting a lot of at-bats and being able to be a big part of a team like I was with Oakland last year. I also get to reunite with Kevin Millar, and I think we're all pretty excited around here about going up against the two Evil Empires: Boston and New York."

Q. Is it a lot different playing baseball in a place like Oakland than back East?

JP: "Yeah. It really is. I had a great time there and we had our rivalry with Anaheim, but that level of excitement that I experienced with the Red Sox and the Mets back East, there was a lot to it. Baseball was really important there and people really got into it. But Oakland was great, too. No complaints."

Q. Could the Orioles be a surprise? They seem to have a good starting rotation, a revamped bullpen.

JP: "I know this: Nobody is going to pick us to win the division. But I love that underdog role. A lot of guys on this team, like Millar, thrive on that stuff. You look at this team, it's got the talent to do some things. I don't think we're going to back down to anyone."

Q. Any idea how your playing time will go?

JP: "Well, to me, it's similar to Oakland. I came there as the fourth outfielder and wound up starting a lot and playing a lot of games. I think I'll probably play most of the time in left field, but I'm going to see time in center field against lefthanded pitchers and I'll be in right some of the time, too."

Etc.

Apropos of nothing: 1. Predicted last year at this time that Nomar Garciaparra would be the best bargain signing of the winter. I'm saying the same this time about Trot Nixon with the Indians; 2. The Red Sox have no interest in Bernie Williams; 3. Which deal gets done first, J.D. Drew or Barry Bonds?; 4. From Pawtucket PR man extraordinaire Bill Wanless: The PawSox and Red Sox now have the sixth-longest affiliate relationship in all of minor league baseball; 5. People tell me it's been taking about a month for star foreign players to get a visa.

The Phillies have six starters, and that's always good, but they wanted to use one of them, Jon Lieber, to acquire a set up man for Tom Gordon. "It's difficult for clubs to give up those pieces," said general manager Pat Gillick. "They're plugging one hole and opening another one. So you've got to find somebody who has excess, and there are very few clubs that have excess pitching. But we're not going to give somebody away." The Phillies also didn't acquire a big bat to protect Ryan Howard in the lineup. Howard didn't need it last year, and he'll likely have Pat Burrell in that role again.

The Rangers hope Sammy Sosa succeeds, for one big reason: They need a righthanded bat. After losing Carlos Lee and the switch-hitting Gary Matthews Jr., the Rangers have three lefthanded-hitting outfielders in Frank Catalanotto, Kenny Lofton, and Brad Wilkerson. Over the past two years, the Rangers are 36-48 against lefty starters, though they lucked out when Jamie Moyer (12-7 vs. the Rangers since 1996) left for the Phillies and Barry Zito (17-5 against the Rangers) signed with San Francisco.

Caught up with Mets GM Omar Minaya, who got back from the Dominican recently. He spent time with Pedro Martínez, and while he feels Martínez is well on his way to coming back from major shoulder surgery, Minaya did say, "Once they get operated on like that, in my mind, I'm giving them a year. But who knows? Pedro's got the heart of a lion. I'm certainly not depending on him for the first half. Sometime in the second half. The important thing is Pedro's feeling good and like he's going to make a strong comeback." Minaya is looking for another starter, but, he said, "There's not much left out there. If we can make a deal, great. If we can't, our young kids look great and we've got to throw them into the fire to see what they can do." Minaya was pleased with the late signing of lefty reliever Scott Schoeneweis, and another player he loves is Mets prospect Francisco Pena, son of former Sox catcher Tony Pena. "He's grown," said Minaya. "He's about 6-2 and he's lost some of that baby fat. He can really throw, and what a hitter. He's only 17, but we're thinking about starting him in the South Atlantic League."

Catalanotto said he almost joined the Red Sox. "I got a couple of calls from Theo [ Epstein] over the winter and he said he really wanted me on the team, but he didn't know where I fit," said Catalanotto. "He asked me to give him a little time to sort it out, but I had two offers pending and I felt I had to make a decision, so I took Texas. I had played there before and knew what to expect. It gave me the best chance for a lot of playing time and at-bats in left field and at DH. I've always loved Boston and wanted to play there if I couldn't stay in Toronto. But it was just a timing thing." Catalanotto said the biggest thing about playing for the Rangers is, as you would guess, the heat. "You have to know how to manage it," he said. "You really have to curtail the amount of time you spend outside on those hot afternoons for batting practice. You have to do a lot of your hitting in the indoor cages. Otherwise it will sap you."

Former Sox righty Tomo Ohka might decide this weekend whether to pitch for Washington, Pittsburgh, or Toronto. Ohka, like any pitcher, would fare better in the National League, but Washington and Pittsburgh might struggle to give him run support while Toronto will score a lot. Ohka is 15-22 with a 3.89 ERA against the NL East but received three runs or fewer in 18 of those 22 losses; he also had 13 no-decisions in games in which he allowed two or fewer runs. That's a strong case for Washington. He's 4-0 against the AL East, a strong case for Toronto.

A spring training story to watch is whether Ken Griffey moves to right field. Griffey, 38, is healing after breaking his left hand in an accident at his home in Orlando while playing with his son. The Reds would like nothing more than to move Griffey out of center field to reduce the running he does and keep him fresher. A formal request hasn't been made to him, however. It's expected that manager Jerry Narron will ask Griffey to make a few appearances in right during spring training. "If he would do it, I think it might add another year or two to his career," said one baseball official. "His value to the Reds is his bat right now in his career. He's still a very good outfielder, but he can be replaced as a defensive center fielder. But he's still a high-level hitter, and that's what you have to protect."

Nick Cafardo's e-mail address is cafardo@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.