The early signs from Sammy Sosa are very good:

But you can't watch the Rangers go through the first week of spring training and not begin to wonder what the club may have fallen into with their signing of the 38-year-old Sosa.

On Sunday in his second spring game, Sosa did what he is famous for. He delivered a home run to left field, crossed home plate, kissed his fingers and pointed to the sky.

In his third game Tuesday, he struck a sharp single to left.

In his fourth game Wednesday, a 9-8 victory over Arizona, Sosa struck a fastball from Diamondbacks starter Livan Hernandez with such authority that the only question for anyone watching at Surprise Stadium was: How far?

The three-run shot landed at the back of the hill in left-center, maybe 425 feet from home plate, giving him five hits and two home runs in 12 spring at-bats.

The negative is that Sosa struck out four times so far, meaning he can be fooled. Washington realizes this but thinks that will improve:

"We're giving him the opportunity to get some at-bats, and he is taking advantage of it," Washington said. "Pretty soon he'll be staying back on the off-speed stuff and they'll stop throwing it to him. Because he'll be knocking the hell out of that, too."

So far, the $500,000 looks like money well spent by the Rangers.

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