D-Backs playing it safe with creaky, goal-oriented Unit

Diamondbacks: Five things to know

TEMPE, Ariz. -- There is no rushing going on around Randy Johnson this spring. Did you hear that? No rushing. Back off, the man needs his space!

Arizona's counting on Randy Johnson to be its third pitcher in a deep rotation. (AP)

This, though, isn't about a television camera pushing too close to his face. Or a pack of reporters getting too close for comfort. No. This is Johnson, at 44, working methodically in what well could be his last charge up the major league mountain, pushing to give Arizona as good a front three this summer as there is in any National League rotation.

In Brandon Webb, two seasons removed from a NL Cy Young award, and Danny Haren, one season removed from starting for the AL in the All-Star Game, the Diamondbacks have a couple of sticks of dynamite.

In Johnson, they have a Hall of Fame lefty who could be the match.

But he is returning from his second back surgery in two years, and if you think the man himself can be cantankerous at times, you should see his back.

"We're not going to rush anything," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin says.

"We read off of how he feels," Arizona general manager Josh Byrnes says. "He knows he has to take things in incremental steps."

"This spring training is unlike any other spring training I've ever had," Johnson says.

It was difficult enough last spring when he was returning from the back surgery of October 2006. But he huffed and puffed and pushed himself back, only to last 10 starts for Arizona in 2007 (4-3, 3.81 ERA) before having to shut it down again in early July.

This spring? He's another year older, and he's returning from yet another knife in the back.

This time, though, he has a two-month head start. Last year's surgery was in August. So when he reported this spring, unlike last spring, it was with eight extra weeks of recovery time.

Johnson and the Diamondbacks are hoping that will be pivotal.

"There are definitely things that are important," Johnson says, thinking back to what he learned during last spring's ordeal. "I've already gradually started working on agility drills and comebackers. Those things are critical. They help work you into shape, and they're essential in the game.