Randy Johnson, here with the Arizona Diamondbacks this past season, comes back to the Bay Area after signing a one-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Friday. (Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press Files)

The Big Unit is heading home to the Bay Area.

Randy Johnson and the San Francisco Giants agreed to an $8-million US, one-year contract Friday, meaning the 45-year-old pitcher will go for his 300th win with a new team.

Johnson, a 21-year big league veteran who spent the past two seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, was born in Walnut Creek, Calif., about 30 minutes from the Giants' waterfront ballpark. He grew up in nearby Livermore.

The five-time Cy Young Award winner has 295 victories after going 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA in 30 starts last season. He can earn an additional $5 million in performance bonuses.

San Francisco offered several things on Johnson's wish list: spring training in the Phoenix area, and a chance to stay on the West Coast and in the NL West so he can pitch near his current home in Arizona.

"All of those things kind of fell into place with the Giants," Johnson's agent, Barry Meister, said in a telephone interview.

Johnson joins fellow Cy Young winners Tim Lincecum (2008) and Barry Zito (2002) in an intriguing rotation that also features promising right-hander Matt Cain.

San Francisco becomes the first team with three Cy Young Award recipients since the 2002 Atlanta Braves with Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.

Johnson has 4,789 strikeouts, second on the career list to Nolan Ryan (5,714). The six-foot-10 lefty made $16 million last season, when he struck out 173 and walked 44.

During the winter meetings this month in Las Vegas, Giants general manager Brian Sabean didn't hide the fact that he was seeking a veteran starting pitcher for a short-term deal and that Johnson would be a great fit.

Left-hander Noah Lowry is a question mark after undergoing two operations this year that sidelined him all season, one for a nerve problem in his forearm and then an arthroscopic procedure after the season on the back of his pitching elbow to remove bone spurs