Yankees Continue Refurbishing With a Luxury Unit

Still putting distance between themselves and their historic collapse in the American League championship series, the New York Yankees reached an agreement with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday to acquire Randy Johnson, the five-time Cy Young Award winner who will turn 42 next season.

The teams reassembled a trade that for a brief period had included the Dodgers, who withdrew 10 days ago after learning that Yankee pitcher Javier Vazquez had misgivings about moving west.

According to a baseball official familiar with the negotiations, the Yankees will get Johnson, who has grown impatient with the rebuilding Diamondbacks but would waive his no-trade clause only for the Yankees.

In return, the Diamondbacks will get Vazquez, left-hander Brad Halsey, catcher Dioner Navarro and about $9 million, ostensibly to cover much of Vazquez’s salary next season.

The terms are expected to be forwarded to Commissioner Bud Selig as soon as today. Selig must approve the trade because of the cash involved.

The players must undergo and pass physical examinations. As compensation for lifting his no-trade clause, Johnson is expected to negotiate a two-year contract extension worth about $32 million with the Yankees, to be settled in a 72-hour window granted by the commissioner’s office. Because of those details, the trade is not expected to be announced until next week.

Just more than two months after the Boston Red Sox swarmed the mound at Yankee Stadium, having won the last of four consecutive games to astonish a nation’s baseball fans, the Yankees appear to have retooled a pitching staff that took much of the blame for the unprecedented collapse.

Along with Johnson, who could cost them $16 million in each of the next three seasons, the Yankees signed free-agent pitchers Carl Pavano (four years, $40 million) and Jaret Wright (three years, $21 million) and traded for relievers Mike Stanton and Felix Rodriguez. They also signed second baseman Tony Womack and are in the bidding for center fielder Carlos Beltran, expected to be the most expensive free agent of the off-season.

Even without Beltran, the Yankee payroll will be well more than $200 million, some of that tied up in Jason Giambi, who is due at least $82 million over the next five seasons, but whose status is unclear after he allegedly admitted steroid use in a federal grand jury hearing. The Yankees’ pursuit of free-agent first baseman Tino Martinez would suggest Giambi’s immediate future in New York, at least, is in doubt.

Yankee owner George Steinbrenner watched in horror as the Red Sox worked back from a 3-0 deficit over four October nights. Kevin Brown twice failed to pitch past the second inning in the series and got only four outs in Game 7. Vazquez relieved him in the second inning and, on his first pitch, gave up a grand slam to Johnny Damon, effectively ending the Yankee season and launching their search for pitching.

Johnson will top a rotation also expected to include Mike Mussina, Pavano, Wright and, perhaps, Brown. The Yankees will be Johnson’s fifth team, after Montreal, Seattle, Houston and Arizona.

He won his Cy Young awards over eight seasons, from 1995 to 2002, including four in succession starting in 1999. He won three games in the 2001 World Series against the Yankees, the last in relief in Game 7.

Johnson is 54 wins from 300, certainly in reach if his various ailments and advancing age do not limit his appearances.

Despite reports of massive debt, the Diamondbacks signed free agents Troy Glaus and Russ Ortiz, and could turn pieces from the Johnson trade into players who would help them rebuild from their 111-loss 2004 season.

The Diamondbacks are expected to shop Navarro, potentially as the centerpiece in a trade for Dodger Shawn Green, and Vazquez, who would draw interest from Baltimore, Philadelphia, the Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox, among others.

The Dodgers had insisted on Navarro’s being part of the failed three-way deal earlier this month. They traded catchers Paul Lo Duca, an All-Star, and Koyie Hill, a triple-A prospect, at the last trading deadline.

When Colorado catcher Charles Johnson subsequently refused to waive his no-trade clause to return to Los Angeles, the Dodgers were left with light hitters Brent Mayne and David Ross at catcher, and General Manager Paul DePodesta has yet to improve the position.