Former All-Star catcher Javy Lopez and the Colorado Rockies reached a preliminary agreement on a $750,000, one-year contract yesterday.

The deal is pending a physical, which is scheduled for later this week. Lopez's salary, which is not guaranteed, would increase to $1 million if he is on the active 25-man roster, and he could earn $600,000 in performance bonuses.

Lopez had a rocky 2006 season. He began the year in Baltimore behind the plate, was moved to designated hitter and then went through an experiment at first base. He was traded to the Boston Red Sox Aug. 4 and released a month later.

"Everything that could go wrong for him did go wrong last year," said Chuck Berry, Lopez's agent. "He feels like he has something to prove."

Before the deal was struck, the Rockies encouraged Lopez to visit Jerry Weinstein in San Luis Obispo, Calif. The Rockies wanted Weinstein to fine tune Lopez's fundamentals behind the plate.

"I asked him right away, 'Why are you here?' " said Weinstein, who was recently hired to manage Colorado's Class A Modesto team. "He looked at me and said, 'I want to be the comeback player of the year.' "

He'll go into spring training battling Alvin Colina, Yorvit Torrealba and Chris Iannetta for the starting job.

Diamondbacks

Arizona made it official: Randy Johnson is back. The club announced it reacquired the Big Unit in a trade with the New York Yankees, one day after he passed his physical. Johnson, who had back surgery in October, was re-introduced at a Chase Field news conference. Arizona gave up right-handed reliever Luis Vizcaino and three minor-leaguers.

Elsewhere

St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds had surgery to correct a foot ailment -- a "hammer toe" condition of the second toe on his left foot -- that led him to have a daily numbing injection during the postseason.