After all the talk about the Mitchell Report, it's time for Mitchell to report.

Mitch Talbot is all set to get in his car next week and make the 36-hour drive from Cedar City, Utah, to St. Petersburg, Fla., for spring training with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Just like everyone else, the 24-year-old pitching prospect followed all the steroid news during the offseason. But starting Wednesday, when camps begin to open in Florida and Arizona, attention will turn back to the field following months of sour headlines.

"I don't think it's going to hurt. I think they're still excited for baseball," said Talbot, who started last season with six no-hit innings for Triple-A Durham.

Johan Santana, Dontrelle Willis, Dan Haren and Erik Bedard will be with new teams following big trades. When position players show up, Miguel Cabrera, Miguel Tejada, Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones will put on different uniforms.

All those fans in cold-weather cities await those magical words, "pitchers and catchers," and the sounds of fastballs popping into mitts and balls cracking off bats.

New York Mets manager Willie Randolph gushed when he thought about Santana, who'll brighten a camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla., still smarting from last September's epic collapse.

"When they announced that we got him, everybody kind of congratulated me like I just had a baby or something," Randolph said.

Acquired by Detroit at the winter meetings along with Cabrera, the excitable Willis beamed when the Tigers gave him a $29 million, three-year contract.

"I'm so amped up about being here and knowing I'm going to stay here," he said. "It's mind-blowing to know I'm going to play for years to come for a team that had guys like Ty Cobb and Al Kaline."

Hunter will be with the Los Angeles Angels after agreeing to a $90 million, five-year contract, and Jones will be the Los Angeles Dodgers, starting their final spring training at Vero Beach, Fla., where they've trained since 1948.

The Dodgers and San Diego Padres will leave spring training for a pair of exhibition games in Beijing on March 15 and 16. The World Series champion Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics also head to Asia, becoming the third set of clubs to open the regular season in the Tokyo Dome.

"We want to expand Red Sox Nation and further establish it in one of the greatest baseball nations in the world — Japan," Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said.

There will be some absences. Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants' stud since 1993, won't be in Scottsdale. His hometown team decided not to re-sign him and following his indictment on November on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the BALCO drug case, no offers have emerged for what would be his 23rd major league season. At 43, the seven-time MVP might be finished, unwanted by teams following accusations he used performance-enhancing drugs.

No trial date has been set for Bonds, who denied knowingly using performance-enhancers. His 762nd home run might have been his last.

"We all know in a lot of ways Barry was bigger than life on the field and in the clubhouse. He was a dominant personality," Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. "The players I've talked to are interested in making a statement. We were pretty competitive without him in the lineup."

Roger Clemens will be missing from spring training mounds for the third straight year. While the Rocket returned in midseason during each of the last two years, it's a little different now. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner was accused of using steroids and human growth hormone by his former personal trainer. He's denied using drugs and is scheduled to testify before a congressional committee Wednesday.

Sammy Sosa, fifth on the home-run list at 609, will be watching spring training from afar, having failed thus far to find a deal to his liking. Mike Piazza also is among the dozens of unsigned free agents along with Kenny Lofton along with Kyle Lohse, Bartolo Colon, Livan Hernandez, Shannon Stewart and Mike Sweeney.

Craig Biggio is missing voluntarily. He retired after 3,060 hits over 20 seasons, all with the Houston Astros.

So much for those not at spring training. The big stars who are there will be under the usual scrutiny.

Alex Rodriguez, known as much for being trailed by paparazzi as he is for postseason popups and regular-season home runs, figures to be the center of attention at Yankees' camp. Following another October swoon, he opted out of his record $252 million, 10-year contract, then returned for a record $275 million, 10-year deal.

The Yankees will head north to their final season at Yankee Stadium, and the Mets will spend their final year at Shea, both due to be razed when replacements open in 2009. In Washington, the Nationals move into their new home this April.

And then there are six new managers who have been hired since the end of the season: Dusty Baker (Cincinnati), Joe Girardi (Yankees), Trey Hillman (Kansas City), John Russell (Pittsburgh) and Joe Torre (Dodgers).