Johnson, 45, could earn somewhere between $6 million to $8 million on a one-year deal.

"He brings qualities that you like that not everyone brings," Ryan said as he departed the Bellagio on his way to Austin for meetings.

"Where we are in development of our pitchers, I would look at that as a positive. A pitcher of his stature and age and work ethic, he could come in, and you'd want our pitchers to see that."

Johnson, a left-hander, is five wins shy of 300 in his career and owns five Cy Young Awards. He pitched well last season, returning after back surgery sidelined him for most of 2007. Johnson was 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA in 184 innings last season. He had 173 strikeouts and 44 walks. Johnson has 4,793 career strikeouts.

"Texas has a lot of things Randy is looking for," Meister said. "They have spring training in Arizona, an offense that can score a bunch of runs, and having Nolan there is a real plus."

Meister said Johnson will offer advice to young players if they take the initiative and show real interest. He said Arizona starter Brandon Webb approached Johnson a few years ago, and the two would sit in the dugout and discuss various approaches to hitters during games.

Meister said he is talking with many teams to get a feel for the market, and that Johnson isn't in any rush to make a decision.

Ryan added that of the group he considers frontline free-agent pitchers this off-season, only Ben Sheets and Johnson would seem to fit in the club's plans.

Rojas leaving: Victor Rojas, a Rangers radio broadcaster since 2004, is leaving for the fledgling MLB Network, headquartered in suburban New York. Rojas will initially serve as a host on the daily MLB Tonight studio show.

"I made a lot of lifelong friends here," Rojas said Wednesday. "I'm thankful for everything that Mr. [Tom] Hicks has done for me."

He reserved special admiration for Rangers broadcasters Eric Nadel and Tom Grieve.

"I learned a lot from both of them. I learned from Eric professionally and from Tom as a person."

Briefly: Ryan said the only way to justify trading one of the club's trio of young catchers - Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden or Max Ramirez - is if the Rangers get a player back that "would be a mainstay in the starting rotation." ... Daniels wouldn't get into specific players, but he said there's been interest in some of the team's veterans. That probably includes Kevin Millwood or Vicente Padilla. ...The Rangers' 40-man roster is full, which means they can't participate in the Major League portion of today's Rule 5 draft unless they move a player off the roster. They can participate in the minor league portion of the draft.

Staff writer Barry Horn contributed to this report.

Randy Johnson STATISTICS 2004-2008

YearTeam G W L IP H ER K ERA

Career 596 295 160 4039.1 3249 1461 4789 3.26

2004 ARI 35 16 14 245.2 177 71 290 2.60

2005 NYY 34 17 8 225.2 207 95 211 3.79

2006 NYY 33 17 11 205.0 194 114 172 5.00

2007 ARI 10 4 3 56.2 52 24 72 3.81

2008 ARI 30 11 10 184.0 184 80 173 3.91