The Diamondbacks are on a tight budget this off-season and the economy has hurt every team. That has been the mantra of the Arizona Diamondbacks so far this year and a major reasoning for letting Randy Johnson file for free agency.

One problem, according to reports the Diamondbacks new second baseman Felipe Lopez is worth more than Johnson in the Diamondbacks eyes.

On November 13th it was reported that the D-Backs offer to future hall of famer Randy Johnson rang in at a whopping $2.5-$3 million dollars. This after Johnson told the club he was willing to play for half of his 2008 salary, $10 million, to stay in Arizona.

Reports on SI.com today claim that Lopez agreed to a one year, $3.5 million contract with the Diamondbacks.

(play cricket sound)

Lopez, a career .262 hitter with a .330 on-base percentage, is worth between a half a million to a million more than the soon to be 300 game winner Johnson?

Seems pretty absurd.

Even if Johnson falls short of his impressive 2008 totals and proves to only be a shell of his former self he would still be a solid 5th starter and mentor to young fireballer Max Scherzer.

Oh, and there is the little thing of winning his 300th game in the uniform of the team he won 4 Cy Young awards and a World Series in (even though said uniform is not purple anymore). That alone should have made Johnson more valuable than Lopez even if his impressive resume wasn’t enough to convince Josh Byrnes and the Diamondbacks of his value.

If you had told me that a journeyman infielder would find himself with a more lucrative deal from the Diamondbacks than Randy Johnson I would have thought you lost your mind.

One can argue the decision makers in the Diamondbacks front office have done just that.