"James Shields caught up with his old teammate Carlos Peña this offseason at a celebrity golf tournament near Orlando, and he listened as Peña raved about his days with the Rays.

"He loved it here," Shields said.

Peña reached his potential during his four years with the Rays and helped turn the franchise from the hapless Devil Rays into the playoff-contending Rays before leaving for the Cubs as a free agent after the 2010 season.

Now the Rays, looking very much to contend again in 2012, have asked Peña to come home. The 33-year-old power-hitting first baseman with one Gold Glove on his résumé agreed Friday to a one-year, $7.25 million contract. The deal will be finalized early next week.

"I'm coming back to Tampa (Bay)," Peña said in a text message to the Tampa Tribune. "I'm very excited."

So are his teammates.

"I love it," Sean Rodriguez said.

"Welcome back 'Los," Jeremy Hellickson wrote on his Facebook page.

"It was kind of sad to see him leave when he left," Shields said. "We've had some pretty good first basemen over the last five or six years, and now that we have him back I'm excited. He was one of the best teammates you can have. He's a familiar face."

Being a familiar face is a big part of Peña's homecoming.

Whatever the Rays lost in terms of clubhouse leadership when they decided not to re-sign Johnny Damon they get back with Peña, who was one of the leading voices in the clubhouse from 2007 to 2010.

"Most guys coming to a team have to get a feel, see if they can be a leader," Rodriguez said. "He was here for so many years, missed a year and now he's back, it won't be hard for him to transition into that role again.""