Sammy Sosa to Rangers?

Wonder how much weight he's lost.


Sources: Rangers offer minor league deal to Sosa
By Enrique Rojas
ESPNdeportes.com

The Texas Rangers have offered Sammy Sosa a minor league contract and invited him to spring training, where the veteran slugger would have the chance to make the major league club, a source told ESPNdeportes.com Tuesday.

A baseball source also told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick that the Rangers and Sosa were working toward an agreement.

"Sammy seems hungry and somewhat humbled by the last two years,'' Texas general manager Jon Daniels said in an e-mail to ESPN.com. "This is about giving a second chance to a guy who did a lot for the game, and who wants an opportunity to prove he can contribute. We're not setting expectations, and he's not asking for anything other than a chance to compete."

It was not immediately clear how much the deal would be worth if Sosa were to make the major league club, but the source said that a big chunk of the money would be incentive-based.

Sosa worked out for Rangers officials at Ameriquest Field on Monday and later had dinner with Daniels. If Sosa were to come to terms with the team, he would report to Rangers spring training on Feb. 22 in Surprise, Arizona.

The relationship between the Rangers and Sosa would be nothing new. Sosa signed his first baseball contract with Texas 22 years ago out of the Dominican Republic, and after four years in the minors, he made his major league debut with the Rangers at age 20 in 1989. He hit .238 with one home run (off Roger Clemens at Fenway Park) and three RBIs before being traded to the Chicago White Sox.

Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo managed Sosa in 1986 for the Rangers' rookie league team.

Sosa, a seven time All-Star and author of three 60-plus home run seasons, has 588 homers in a 17-year career, but he hit just .221 with 14 round-trippers in 102 games with the Orioles in 2005 and did not play last year.

"I think I still have a lot to give in baseball," said Sosa last month, when he began to work out in the Dominican.

Sosa, 38, turned down a non-guaranteed contract worth $500,000 from the Washington Nationals and opted to sit out the 2006 season.

"Now, I would accept an offer similar to that of the Nationals last year," said Sosa recently.

Sosa would give the Rangers a much-needed right-handed bat in the outfield. Three of Texas' current outfielders are left-handed hitters -- Brad Wilkerson, Kenny Lofton and Frank Catalanotto.

 

I'm gonna draft him in my fantasy draft for sure.

 

Then you'll be drafting a player who won't be in the majors.

 

No, I mean if he's there late, I'm gonna take him. I took Bonds in the eighth round last year, that wasn't too bad of a deal.

 

BIG difference between Bonds and Sosa. Pun intended.

Sosa was a complete shell of his former self in '05. No reason to think this year will be any different.

 

A year away from the game? A year to sit and lift weights in the privacy of his guarded palace in Santo Domingo while injecting all kinds of "doctor prescribed" HgH and steroids, build muscle, then cycle off the stuff?

No, no reason to think he'll be different at all.

 

Wouldn't he DH instead of play in the outfield?

Of course, he still has to make the major-league club.

 

Sammy in '04: On the DL twice (at least), fizzled out at the end of the season.

Sammy in '05: Bad.

Sammy in '06: Partying in the Dominican.

Saying his stock is plummeting would be an understatement.

 

Leave it to the Rangers -- with their sustained history of idiot management -- to fall for this gag.

 

Considering the Rangers are hip-deep in the steroid scandal -- that's where Jose Canseco turned Raffy and Juando on to the juice (allegedly), and let's not overlook Skinny Pudge -- is it really a good idea from a perception standpoint to add Sammy Sosa?

All Sammy's about is getting those dozen dingers to get to 600.

Texas has made some moves I like this offseason, but this one's a head-scratcher. If they need a right-handed bat that badly, there are safer options out there.

I guess the Rangers think it's a low-risk thing because it's only a minor-league deal and a spring training invite, but I fear it's going to be a circus in Arizona. The best to hope for is that Sammy shows up somewhat humbled and ready to work.

 

Headline: Sosa aiming for Dirty Dozen Dingers