The Sammy Sosa signing is official in Texas. He’ll make $500,000 if he makes the Opening Day roster, and can reach $2.7MM based on incentives. $200K of that would come from winning Comeback Player of the Year. To quote Sammy:
"My body is in shape, and I’m ready to go."
Ron Washington has this crazy idea that Sammy can play regularly and hit 30 home runs as the Rangers’ fifth place hitter. Fine. Maybe there’s a 10% chance he does that, and it costs very little. However, there is significant risk in this signing. It is that Sammy takes away ABs from better players. The Orioles gave him 380 ABs in ’05. If the Rangers stick with him for 200 ABs, a third of a season, and he’s awful, that could cause them to miss the playoffs. It’d be different if this was the Nationals.
