Is There Any Whammy Left In Sammy?

Next came the interviews. Team owner Tom Hicks had what he calls a "candid" dinner with Sosa, from which he came away convinced the slugger was returning for the right reasons. Daniels and his people sat down with Sosa and went over a list of issues, including the entourage ("we made it clear he wouldn't have one"), the team's leadership ("we made clear we already had our clubhouse leaders"), the boom box ("we brought it up") and steroids ("he said it was flat-out a nonissue for him"). "We wanted to make sure he wasn't coming back just to hit 12 home runs," says Daniels.

As the Rangers weighed signing Sosa, they continued to look elsewhere for power. The front office considered making runs at Piazza, Moises Alou, Frank Thomas and even, briefly, Barry Bonds before deciding that Bonds's price, and the related headaches, weren't worth it. (Bonds was asking teams to take on the salaries of his nine-man team of specialists, which, according to a league source, was roughly a combined $700,000.) That left Sosa as the most appealing option, one the team can cut at no cost if he fails to impress during spring training.

That seems unlikely. Both Washington and Jaramillo are optimistic, pointing to the success of Thomas, who, at 38 and coming off a down season, rejuvenated his career with the A's last year. Washington, a third base coach with Oakland in '06, recalls that Thomas told the team he would need spring training and then 100 to 110 at bats to get started. "I think it took 103--and he took off," Washington says. ( Thomas hit .184 with seven homers in his first 103 at bats and .295 with 32 homers in his 363 subsequent at bats.) Sosa will likely get the same opportunity, seeing enough at bats in spring and the season's first month to find his stroke.

If the ratio of personality to production starts to tip too heavily toward the former, then it's unlikely that star power will save him. "I think it's going to be good if Sammy can play well," says Teixeira, the Rangers' resident alpha male slugger, when asked about Sosa's effect on the clubhouse. "He needs to come in here and prove that he's ready to contribute. If he does, we're going to welcome him and be behind him 100 percent." And if he doesn't contribute? Teixeira shrugs. "Everything's always based on performance. He can talk a good game, but it doesn't matter unless he can play well."