Randy Johnson is 43 and coming off back surgery and two uneven years with the New York Yankees.
He does not have much time left to add to his legacy, and if he does, he may not end up doing it in New York, because the Yankees now appear open to the idea of trading Johnson.
He could go to the Arizona Diamondbacks, for whom Johnson pitched for six seasons. He won four Cy Young awards for them and a World Series there in 2001.
PHOTO: AP
The Yankees have also spoken to the San Diego Padres and a third team, believed to be the San Francisco Giants, according to a baseball executive who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about a possible deal.
It is not known which players the Yankees may be hoping to acquire for Johnson, but their priority may be to simply unload all -- or a large part -- of Johnson's US$16 million salary for next year, the final year of his contract.
A Johnson trade, if it happened quickly enough, would allow the Yankees to enter the competition for prized free-agent starter Barry Zito, another left-hander who, except for his Cy Young season of 2002, has never enjoyed the same success as Johnson, but who at 28 is 15 years younger than Johnson and considerably healthier.
The teams known to be bidding for Zito include the Mets, the Giants, the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners.
The Yankees' potential involvement would create a dream situation for the agent Scott Boras, who would then be able to pit the Yankees against the Mets.
Boras tried doing that two off-seasons ago with center fielder Carlos Beltran, but the Yankees were not interested and Beltran went to the Mets.
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