Barry Zito to sign a minor-league deal with Oakland A’s

2001 — Barry Zito, a year away from his Cy Young, in the dugout during Game 3 of the ALDS between the A's and the Yankees. That year, Zito had a career-high 205 strikeouts.

2001 — Barry Zito, a year away from his Cy Young, in the dugout during Game 3 of the ALDS between the A's and the Yankees. That year, Zito had a career-high 205 strikeouts. Image 1 of / 44 Caption Close Barry Zito to sign a minor-league deal with Oakland A’s 1 / 44 Back to Gallery

Barry Zito, who spent the first seven years of his major-league career with the A’s and won the Cy Young Award with the club in 2002, is returning to the team.

The Chronicle learned Monday evening that Zito will sign a minor-league contract with the A’s and be in spring camp with the club.

“I just want to pitch,” Zito said by phone. “I love baseball. I want to enjoy the game.”

Zito, 36, was a three-time All-Star with Oakland before signing a seven-year, $126 million deal with the Giants after the 2006 season. The Giants declined Zito’s $14 million option for 2014, paying a $7 million buyout instead, and Zito, whose first child was born last year, took 2014 off. He recently threw for a number of clubs in Houston after moving to the city to work out there in preparation for the 2015 season. Zito spent four months working with Ron Wolforth, a Houston-based trainer best known for resurrecting Scott Kazmir’s career; Kazmir made the All-Star team with the A’s last season.

“I knew in August of 2013 I was going to take a year off,” Zito said. “I had a lot of things I wanted to work on, and I went to see Ron for a couple of days last September and he impressed in every area. It was a great place to stay focused.”

Zito has remained popular among the A’s brass. He and general manager Billy Beane are both from San Diego, and Zito’s personality endeared him throughout the organization.

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“You know Billy, he’s pretty casual,” Zito said. “He just said, 'I’m happy to bring you here again.’”

The left-hander went 102-63 with a 3.55 ERA during his time with Oakland and 63-80 with a 4.62 ERA with the Giants, but he contributed some outstanding work during the 2012 postseason to help San Francisco to its second of three titles in the past five seasons.

Zito would make $1 million should he make Oakland’s roster, according to one source, and he also could earn $175,000 in performance bonuses. It will not be an easy task, however. The A’s have acquired a number of new starters in trades — Jesse Hahn, Kendall Graveman, Chris Bassitt and Sean Nolin — and Jesse Chavez and Drew Pomeranz both pitched well at times in Oakland’s rotation last year. Kazmir and Sonny Gray are the only settled members of the rotation.

Even should Zito not make the team out of spring training, more teams will see him pitch and he might have a chance to grab a job elsewhere, because the A’s assuredly would let him out of his deal if he had a big-league opportunity.

“I’ll let my pitching speak for itself — or not speak for itself,” Zito said. “Talk is cheap. We’ll see what happens when it happens.”

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser