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Major MLB trade Brewing
Dec. 17, 2004
ESPN.com news services
Several obstacles stand in the way of a proposed three-team mega-trade involving five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson that reportedly was on the road to getting done Thursday night.
A baseball source told ESPN that the proposed trade involving the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Dodgers is not as close to completion as earlier reports had indicated, and that the deal rapidly exceeding the complexity of last year's failed Alex Rodriguez-to-Boston trade might never happen.
Earlier reports from Newsday and Fox Sports indicated that the teams were closing in on a trade that would send Johnson to the Yankees, Javier Vazquez and prospects Eric Duncan and Dioner Navarro to Los Angeles, and Shawn Green and pitchers Brad Penny and Yhency Brazoban to Arizona.
However, there are reportedly several variations on the trade being considered, including the possibility that a fourth team could be involved.
The trade was proposed before Adrian Beltre agreed to a $64 million, five-year deal with the Mariners on Thursday.
By failing to re-sign Beltre, the Dodgers may rethink their role in the trade, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reported. Other issues that threatened to derail the trade include the waiving of Green's no-trade clause.
A source close to Green, who is due $16 million in 2005, told ESPN.com that the Dodgers outfielder is happy living in Southern California, where he grew up, and has expressed no desire to leave Los Angeles. How much money the Diamondbacks would receive from the Yankees is also a point of contention. Sources told Stark that moving Duncan and Navarro would preclude the Yankees from sending money to Arizona.
Another obstacle that reportedly could derail the trade is Vazquez's salary; he is due $34.5 million over the next three seasons and Los Angeles apparently wants help from the Yankees footing the bill.
There was no confirmation from any of the teams that a deal has been proposed and Johnson's agent, Barry Meister, declined comment when reached by ESPN.com.
"We're still in conversations with a lot of different clubs about a lot of different possibilities," Dodgers general manager Paul DePodesta said earlier Thursday. "We have talked about some three-way deals and some four-way deals.
"I don't know if it's going to happen or not," he said.
Johnson, like Green, has a no-trade clause, but the Big Unit had said he would accept a deal to the Yankees. The Yankees also would be expected to sign Johnson to a contract extension if they acquire him. Johnson will make $16 million next season, the final year of his contract.
Johnson was a Montreal Expos second-round draft pick in 1985. He signed with Arizona on Dec. 10, 1998, and won the Cy Young Award in each of his first four seasons in the desert. He finished second to Houston's Roger Clemens in this year's voting.
Johnson also won a Cy Young Award in Seattle, where he played from 1989-98. Johnson finished with a 16-14 record in 2004, but he led the majors in strikeouts with 290 and was second in the majors with a 2.60 ERA despite coming off knee surgery. In a season in which Arizona lost a franchise-worst 111 games, Johnson pitched a perfect game, passed 4,000 career strikeouts and passed Steve Carlton to become the most prolific left-handed strikeout pitcher in history. He ranks No. 3 on the strikeout list behind Nolan Ryan and Clemens.
Green, 31, has a .282 career average but dipped to .266 last season with 28 home runs and 86 RBI.
Penny, 26, was traded from Florida to the Dodgers on July 30 but saw limited action for Los Angeles because of a problem in his right arm. He was 9-10 with a 3.15 ERA for both clubs.
Penny was selected in the fifth round of Arizona's initial free-agent draft in 1996 but never pitched for the Diamondbacks in the majors. He, right-hander Vladimir Nunez and outfielder Abraham Nunez (as a player to be named) were traded to Florida for closer Matt Mantei in July 1999.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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