Sammy Sosa has a contract with the Texas Rangers…

Now the former slugger has to go to spring training and earn a spot on the roster.
Sosa and the Rangers finalized a minor league contract Tuesday. If added to the major league roster, he would get a $500,000, one-year deal with the chance to earn $2.1 million more in performance bonuses.

“I am not going to let you guys down,” Sosa said by telephone during a news conference with Rangers executives. “I wanted to come back in 2006, but I was beaten mentally.

The 38-year-old Sosa, who began his career with the Rangers, hasn't played in the major leagues since 2005 with the Baltimore Orioles, but he says he feels great and ready to go.
“For me this about giving an opportunity to a guy who has done a lot for the game over the last 10, 15 years," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said.

“What really came across to us was that Sammy wanted an opportunity, in the true sense of the word, to prove himself. He still thinks he has something left to give and wants to prove it to the industry, to the Rangers, to himself.”

Sosa wants the opportunity to prove to the Ranges and his manager Ron Washington, that he is read y to pursue the 12 homers he need to reach 600.

Washington said Sosa would be primarily a designated hitter if he makes the team, but would still play a few games in the outfield. He could bat fifth in the Rangers' lineup behind All-Star shortstop Michael Young and switch-hitting slugger Mark Teixeira.

When Sosa last played in 2005, the seven-time All-Star hit .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs in 102 games for Baltimore. During spring training that year, Sosa was one of several players who testified before a congressional committee looking into steroid use in professional baseball. In his career with the Rangers (1989), Chicago White Sox (1989-91), Chicago Cubs (1992-2004) and Orioles, Sosa has batted .274 with 1,575 RBIs and has hit 60 home runs or more in a year three times.

Sosa was the NL MVP in 1998, when he batted .308 with a career-high 66 homers and 158 RBIs for the Cubs. That was the season he was in the home run chase with Mark McGwire, who became the first major leaguer to hit 70 homers.

Sosa's first homer came with Texas in 1989, the only one he hit in 25 games before being traded to the White Sox. The Rangers signed Sosa at age 16 in July 1985, and his first minor league manager was Rudy Jaramillo, now the team's hitting coach.