Yanks, D-Backs close in on deal
Paperwork to be sent to Selig after weekend
By Barry M. Bloom, Mark Feinsand and Steve Gilbert / MLB.com
The Yankees have agreed to send three players and cash to Arizona for Randy Jo
hnson. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
The Yankees and Diamondbacks have agreed in principle on a three-for-one swap
that will send 41-year-old Randy Johnson to the Bronx, sources close to the tr
ade said Thursday. But Arizona's top official said the club was still working
on details and that paperwork couldn't be forwarded to the Commissioner's offi
ce until after the New Year's weekend.
The Diamondbacks would get pitchers Javier Vazquez and Brad Halsey, along with
catcher Dioner Navarro and $8.5 million to $9 million in cash, in exchange fo
r Johnson, the five-time Cy Young winner who has been coveted by the Yankees f
or since this past July's non-waiver trade deadline.
"We're still working hard on this, but nothing will get done before Monday at
the earliest," Ken Kendrick, the Diamondbacks' lead general partner, said. "We
do have family responsibilities that we all need to attend to. Frankly, that'
s important, too."
The final language is still being ironed out, and the Diamondbacks will be res
ponsible for sending on the paperwork to the Commissioner's office. At that po
int Sandy Alderson, Major League Baseball's vice president of baseball operati
ons, would review the documents before giving them to Commissioner Bud Selig,
who is vacationing at his home in the Phoenix area during the holidays, for ap
proval.
Selig must approve the transaction because it includes a sizeable amount of ca
sh. But a precedent was certainly set earlier this year, when the Yankees obta
ined Alex Rodriguez from Texas. The Rangers agreed to pay $67 million on the r
emainder of his original 10-year, $252 million deal, the highest in baseball h
istory.
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The payment made by the Yankees to Arizona would help defray the $10.5 million
owed Vazquez for the 2005 season. The right-hander signed a four-year, $45 mi
llion contract with the Yankees after a trade brought him to New York from Mon
treal prior to this past season.
Once Selig approves the deal, a 72-hour window will open for the Yankees to ne
gotiate a contract extension with Johnson, who owns a no-trade clause in the r
emaining year of his current deal, worth $16 million. In addition to the no-tr
ade clause, Johnson, who signed as a free agent with Arizona in 1998, is prote
cted by a clause in the Basic Agreement that keeps players with 10 years of ex
perience -- the last five with the same team -- from being traded without thei
r permission.
If the Yanks and Johnson come to an agreement and the Big Unit waives his no-t
rade clause, all four players would have to pass physicals before the trade co
uld be officially announced.
Johnson, who is first among Major League left-handers with 4,161 strikeouts, u
nderwent surgery on his right knee during the 2002 season to remove the remain
ing cartilage. Johnson has a substance injected into the knee to help absorb t
he impact of his 6-foot, 10-inch frame landing on his right leg when he pitche
s.
The Yankees thought they had acquired Johnson two weeks ago as part of a three
-team mega-deal with the Diamondbacks and Dodgers. But Los Angeles pulled out
of the trade, sending New York and Arizona back to the drawing board. In that
deal, the Diamondbacks would have received right-fielder Shawn Green and pitch
er Brad Penny, players they still covet.
Yankees president Randy Levine and Jeff Moorad, Arizona's CEO-elect, have been
talking numerous times a day this week as they try to work out a trade before
the end of the year, which was stipulated arbitrarily by Johnson and the Diam
ondbacks as a deadline.
This offseason, the Diamondbacks have already spent nearly $82.5 million, addi
ng free agents Troy Glaus, Russ Ortiz, Royce Clayton and Craig Counsell. The $
24 million saved on the Johnson deal -- the Big Unit's salary, plus the nearly
$9 million of Vazquez's salary paid by the Yankees -- would allow the Diamond
backs to further play the market.
There has been speculation that Arizona could flip Vazquez and/or Navarro else
where before the season -- possibly to Baltimore, Texas or the Dodgers -- and
that Green could still come to the Diamondbacks.
Meanwhile, the Yankees have already added free agent pitchers Carl Pavano and
Jaret Wright, spending about $60 million in the process. Johnson would join th
em in a New York rotation that also includes Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown.
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