Big Unit heads to Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — Randy Johnson had a fairly simple free-agent wish list. The San Francisco Giants badly wanted a pitcher with the Big Unit's talent and experience and could meet those requests.
Johnson and the Giants agreed to an $8 million, one-year contract Friday, meaning the 45-year-old pitcher will go for his 300th win with a new team — and back home in the Bay Area to boot.
Johnson, a 21-year big league veteran who spent the past two seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, was born in Walnut Creek, Calif., about 30 minutes from the Giants' waterfront ballpark. He grew up in nearby Livermore.
"This will give him a chance to reconnect with some of his old friends," Johnson's agent, Barry Meister, said in a telephone interview.
The five-time Cy Young Award winner has 295 victories after going 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA in 30 starts last season. He can earn an additional $5 million in performance bonuses.
San Francisco offered several things on Johnson's list: spring training in the Phoenix area, and a chance to stay on the West Coast and in the NL West so he can pitch near his current home in Arizona.
"All of those things kind of fell into place with the Giants," Meister said.
Johnson joins fellow Cy Young winners Tim Lincecum (2008) and Barry Zito (2002) in an intriguing rotation that also features promising right-hander Matt Cain. San Francisco becomes the first team with three Cy Young Award recipients since the 2002 Atlanta Braves with Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.
Johnson has 4,789 strikeouts, second on the career list to Nolan Ryan (5,714). The 6-foot-10 lefty made $16 million last season, when he struck out 173 and walked 44.
The Oakland Athletics were among the teams interested in Johnson, a 10-time All-Star who filed for free agency last month. He and the Diamondbacks had serious discussions about a new deal that could have kept him in Arizona, but the sides failed to reach an agreement.
