'Incentive' key word in Arizona's interest in Big Unit

For winning the NL Cy Young Award in November, Arizona ace Brandon Webb received in the form of an incentive payment exactly ... zero dollars.

Minnesota's Johan Santana, meanwhile, earned $100,000 for winning the AL Cy Young.

Jeff Moorad, once an agent, now holds to a strict no-incentive policy in Arizona's front office. (Getty Images)

Why Webb's take was only a trophy and no cash gives a glimpse into one reason the Diamondbacks right now are discussing the possibility of bringing Randy Johnson back to the desert in their quest to add pitching -- and why a deal with other pitchers might not have been so palatable.

Because they are so concerned with "cost certainty" after the franchise rang up a tab of $270 million in deferred contracts under the direction of former managing partner Jerry Colangelo, the Diamondbacks, as an organizational philosophy, do not include contract incentive clauses for such things as winning a Cy Young or MVP award.

Most clubs -- but not all -- do.

"I know our awards bonus policy is modeled after the Yankees'," said Jeffrey Moorad, a managing partner in Arizona's ownership group. "Neither of us believes philosophically in awards bonuses.

"The no-incentive approach is a byproduct of a policy that stems from our desire to have certainty of payroll from the expense side. We've found that at times it has cost us a little more money because we're not in the incentive business."

The policy was "crafted" by Moorad and former general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. shortly after Moorad's arrival in 2004, according to Moorad, "and Josh Byrnes and his staff furthered it."

Byrnes replaced Garagiola as GM in 2005 and, among other things, has been the point man in engineering a shift in which the Diamondbacks are trying to get younger, better and corral what once was out-of-control debt.

If they are able to complete a trade for Johnson, not only does Johnson, even at 43, remain an attractive option for them as a starting pitcher -- he also would help the Diamondbacks achieve "cost certainty" toward their projected 2007 payroll budget of $65 million.

Difficult discussions remain with the Yankees over finances in the proposed deal, though, because Arizona has only about $10 million left to spend toward its '07 payroll, and the Diamondbacks want New York to pay a significant portion of Johnson's salary.

Two other free-agent pitchers the Diamondbacks have been linked to -- left-handers Mark Mulder and David Wells -- not only don't have the resume of Johnson, but each is a prime candidate, because of health issues, for incentive-filled contracts.

Mulder is returning from shoulder surgery and his agent, Gregg Clifton, is selling him to clubs on the idea that he will start between 21 and 25 games.