Major League Baseball

Pena says goodbye to Rays fans

Published Dec. 21, 2010 12:20 a.m. ET

foxsports

Former Rays slugger Carlos Pena wants Tampa Bay fans to know how much he enjoyed his four seasons with the AL East champions.

Less than two weeks after agreeing to a $10 million, one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs, Pena said goodbye to Rays supporters in an ad in Monday's St. Petersburg Times.

Pena noted the Rays were the worst team in baseball when he joined the club in 2007. A year later, they won the first of two division titles and made an improbable run to the World Series.

The first baseman said the turnaround showed him ''more than ever that anything is possible if I believe it to be with all my might.'' He also thanked team officials for believing in him.

Pena hit 144 homers and drove in 407 runs in four seasons with Tampa Bay. He batted .196 with 28 homers and 84 RBIs this year.