Jason Giambi to Sign with Oakland Athletics

The A's reunion with Jason Giambi is merely a physical away from completion, according to MLB.com. The deal for the (ahem) 1B and more likely DH is reportedly a guaranteed one year deal worth $3.5 million with a club option for 2010 for $5 million with a $1 million buyout. This is probably a win win...the A's basically get a decent bat in the lineup for relatively cheap $3.5 million, and Giambi goes back to a team before that whole steroids thing made Giambi a bad name. Giambi, of course, was not offered arbitration by the New York Yankees (which freed up some necessary payroll), and hit .247 with 32 HR's last year after an injury plagued 2007. This offer from the A's is just a little less than the $23 million he made last year.

And the news starts to fly...

The Astros, clearly determining that Mike Scott and Charlie Kerfeld are busy, signed Mike Hampton to a 1 year deal (pending physical)... Rumors also that former Astros Andy Pettite and Bobby Abreu, in addition to Jason Giambi, were not offered arbitration by the Yankees. As expected, Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia were offered arbitration, but Kerry Wood, the former Astro-killer, was not offered arbitration. Many teams were going to announce their arbitration decisions on Tuesday, December 2.