Arbiters decide for Astros over Loretta  —  Infielder to get $2.75 million rather than $4.9 million requested  —  KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The Houston Astros won their arbitration case against Mark Loretta, the club confirmed Tuesday morning.  —  Loretta asked for $4.9 million, while the club offered $2.75 million.

ENDY SEES WINNER IN SANTANA  —  Endy Chavez has joined Carlos Beltran in the prediction business.  —  The Mets' recent trade for ace left-hander Johan Santana is “a guarantee for us to make the playoffs,” Chavez excitedly told The Post yesterday after reporting to camp early yesterday.

Happy with Dodgers, Torre reflects on what went wrong with Yankees  —  VERO BEACH, Fla. - Joe Torre won't root for the laundry, as they say, even if the clothes have the classic blue pinstripes on a white background and the most famous logo in sports.  —  And he damn sure isn't going to root …

HOPING FOR RELIEF  —  'IT'S TIME' FOR SANCHEZ TO BOOST METS' BULLPEN  —  PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - By the end of the morning, the rest of the Mets pitchers had wandered back to the air-conditioned bliss of the clubhouse, or scattered off to the weight room, or marched off to one of the front fields to get their running in.

Source says Kinsler, Rangers agree on 5-year, $22M deal … Second baseman Ian Kinsler has agreed to a five-year, $22 million contract with the Texas Rangers, according to a baseball source.  The deal includes a club option for a sixth year that could increase the overall value of the package to $32 million.

Steinbrenner: Baseball Being Singled Out  —  TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hank Steinbrenner insists baseball is being picked on for its trouble with performance-enhancing drugs, and claims the problem is bigger in football.  —  “I don't like baseball being singled out,” the New York Yankees senior vice president …

Piniella says Howry has edge as Cubs' closer  —  Rothschild's perspective on that job: 'We'll see'  —  MESA, Ariz. - Cubs manager Lou Piniella has been careful not to handicap the three-way race for closer, preferring to let Kerry Wood, Bob Howry and Carlos Marmol compete with no preconceived notions of where they stand.

Why Cy?  —  While cruising through blogs and message boards, I recently noticed an alarmingly high rate of variations of the term “Cy Young potential.”  I even read an analysis of Daniel Cabrera that mentioned how, on some nights, he managed to “look like Cy Young.”

Henry arrives, walks right into it  —  FORT MYERS, Fla. - This felt like the old days of Red Sox spring training - the days of Oil Can Boyd's overdue porn videos (the Can's Film Festival), the days of Roger Clemens running with headphones on while Daddy Butch Hobson tried to speak to the Rocket …

Nats sign Boone to Minor League deal  —  Second baseman comes out of retirement looking to start  —  VIERA, Fla. — The Nationals signed second baseman Bret Boone to a non-guaranteed Minor League contract on Monday, and he will begin working out in the team's Accelerated Development Program for Minor Leaguers on Tuesday.

Commish continues to review Mitchell Report cases; no deadline for action  —  Commissioner Bud Selig still is reviewing cases of players accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs in the Mitchell Report.  —  Selig initially hoped to complete his review by spring training.

Pedro older, better  —  Pedro Martinez proudly displayed a gift from his pitching guru/confident Guy Conti this morning, The T-shirt sported a slogan that said:  —  “You don't get to be the best because you're the oldest.  You get to be the oldest because you're the best.”

Assessing the ‘Moneyball’ Payoff  —  Not that they want to see any prospect fail, but old-line major league scouts everywhere stood up and cheered last week.  Jeremy Brown, the Oakland Athletics announced, had retired.  —  Jeremy who?  The Athletics have been the home of Catfish Hunter …