Hampton returning to Astros  —  Deal is pending physical; lefty won 22 games for Houston in '99  —  HOUSTON — The Astros have a deal in place with left-hander Mike Hampton, pending a physical, MLB.com has learned.  —  General manager Ed Wade declined to comment.

The Yankees offer ... nobody  —  That's right, nobody.  So forget those draft picks.  —  More to come ...  UPDATE, 5:27 p.m.: It came down to economics.  The Yankees did not want to risk going to arbitration with any of their players given the salaries they made last season.  To refresh your memories:

Rice hopes final try equals immortality  —  Will Sox slugger be worthy of Hall in last regular attempt?  —  Down to his 15th and final at-bat for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Jim Rice hopes the vote will at last swing him right into Cooperstown, N.Y.

Sabathia, Sheets, Shouse offered arbitration  —  By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel  —  The Brewers have decided to offer salary arbitration to three of their free agents — CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets and Brian Shouse.  They will not offer arbitration to Eric Gagne.

Mets didn't get their money's worth with Pedro  —  It was four years ago that Pedro Martinez was lured to New York by the Mets, a $53 million check stuffed in his pocket.  Pedro wasn't just a free-agent prize; to the Mets he was The One.  —  Now, 32 wins and no world championships later …

Mariners hire two coaches, offer Ibanez arbitration  —  The Seattle Mariners have hired Ty Van Burkleo as bench coach, Lee Tinsley has first base coach and offered outfielder Raul Ibanez arbitration.  —  Van Burkleo worked as Oakland's hitting coach last year on a coaching staff that included new Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu.

Tigers decline to offer arbitration to Edgar Renteria  —  The Tigers have declined to offer salary arbitration to any of their free agents, the team announced today.  —  Shortstop Edgar Renteria, a Type A free agent, was the only player whose status appeared to be in question over the past week.

Cards make no arbitration offers  —  Club will not receive Draft picks if free agents sign elsewhere  —  ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals didn't have to push it to the last minute.  They knew what they wanted to do.  St. Louis elected not to offer arbitration to any of its unsigned free agents.

Yanks sure could use their other closer in Sabathia derby  —  Maybe Joe Torre could have closed the deal with CC Sabathia.  After all, he has a great reputation with players.  —  Perhaps he could have convinced Sabathia that pitching for the Yankees would be a wonderful experience.

Yankees haven't ruled out Manny  —  Manny Ramirez still could have one chance to come home.  While the Mets have all but decided they will not pursue the slugging savant from Washington Heights, in Upper Manhattan, the Yankees clearly have not ruled out a run at Ramirez.