"The Rays are getting the band back together. It'll be Longo on drums, B.J. on lead guitar and 'Los on first base. Just you wait. Next month, Carl Crawford is going to come crawling under the fence at Rays spring training.

First things first: Carlos Pena is back, and to some that means more than home runs – or strikeouts. When the news broke Friday, I'm sure there were Rays fans rummaging through closets or hampers for their No. 23 jerseys.

There aren't many second acts for athletes in towns that they loved and towns that often loved them. This is one.

And there's this: Last September, I was in Chicago, at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were playing and a fierce wind was blowing in. It didn't matter. Chicago's first baseman hit a booming home run 430 feet into the fangs of that wind. It was Carlos Pena.

He hit 144 homers for the Rays in four seasons and led them when they won the pennant in 2008, including a huge homer in a tense September game in Boston. That was Carlos, along with his fun-for-all dugout dance. He's not Prince Fielder, but he was a prince here, just the same.

Yes, we remember the other deal, too. Like those 619 Pena strikeouts. We remember that in Pena's last season in Tampa Bay, 2010, he hit .196, worst in the majors, with only two homers and five RBIs in September. He hit .133 against left-handed pitching last season."