Fridays news-flash: New York Yankees, first baseman Nick Johnson near agreement

New York

Nick Johnson and the New York Yankees are set to reunite.

And that likely means a separation with outfielder Johnny Damon.

Johnson and his original team are wrapping up discussions for a one-year contract for $5.5 million, a person familiar with the situation told Newsday on Thursday night. The agreement is pending a physical examination.

Johnson's signing would fill the Yankees' need for a designated hitter, doing so within the budget general manager Brian Cashman repeated Thursday that he planned to stay tethered to.

The arrival of Johnson, 31, makes it extremely likely that the Yankees will move on without Damon.

"It's part of baseball," Damon told the New York Times on Thursday night. "Teams try to make moves in hopes to improve their club. I wish them all the best."

Johnson, a first baseman by trade, will serve as the Yankees' primary designated hitter. With Johnson and outfielder Curtis Granderson, officially introduced at a news conference at Yankee Stadium, New York believes it has replaced the left-handed bats of Damon and Hideki Matsui, who signed with the Los Angeles Angels for one year and $6 million on Wednesday.

The Yankees' first choice was to re-sign Damon, but the two sides were far apart in negotiations, with the Yankees discussing a two-year deal for $20 million and Damon looking for three or four years at the same $13 million annual salary he earned the past four seasons.

For Johnson,

he will be coming full circle. The Yankees selected him in the third round of the 1996 amateur draft. He went from the Yankees to Montreal as part of the package for Javier Vazquez in December 2003. He's been injury-prone, but when healthy, he gives the Yankees a bona fide No. 2 hitter against both righties and lefties.

Among current free agents, Johnson had the highest on-base percentage in 2009, at .426 with Washington and Florida. In 133 games with the Nationals and Marlins, he hit .291 with eight homers and 62 RBI.

• Third baseman Alex Rodriguez found out his surgically repaired right hip is holding up fine. "Great news," said Rodriguez, who had surgery in March for torn cartilage and missed the first month of the season. At the time, Dr. Marc Philippon thought Rodriguez would need a more extensive procedure in the offseason. But Philippon recently examined Rodriguez, and an MRI showed the three-time AL MVP's hip had properly healed.

Dodgers: Reliever Justin Miller agreed to a minor league contract with Los Angeles. Miller went 3-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 44 games for the Giants in 2009. Also, Los Angeles reached preliminary agreement with former Cleveland utility player Jamey Carroll on a $3.85 million, two-year deal.

Mets: New York and Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi, 30, agreed to a $3 million, two-year deal. The right-hander became the first major addition this offseason for the Mets. He went 3-2 with a 3.19 ERA and three saves in 56 games last season for the Yakult Swallows. New York also has a bid between $60 million and $65 million over four years for free-agent outfielder Jason Bay.

Orioles: Third baseman Garrett Atkins and reliever Mike Gonzalez reached preliminary agreements with Baltimore, sources told the Associated Press. Gonzalez gets a $12 million, two-year deal, and Atkins receives a one-year contract with an option for 2011 that guarantees him $4.5 million. The deals are pending physicals, according to the sources. Atkins, 29, hit .226 with nine homers and 48 RBI last season for Colorado. He had a career-high 29 homers and 120 RBI in 2006, when he was fourth in the NL with a .329 average. Gonzalez, 31, was 5-4 with a 2.42 ERA and 10 saves last season for Atlanta.

Etc.: Former major league infielder Gookie Dawkins, 30, was given a 50-game suspension for a second positive test for drugs in the minors. He finished last season with Florida's Triple-A team in New Orleans.