On a day of big movement in baseball, the Yankees are on the verge of claiming the biggest prize of all.

The Yankees closed in on completing a blockbuster three-team trade that would bring Randy Johnson to New York, send Javier Vazquez to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and send Shawn Green to the Arizona Diamondbacks, a source told The Associated Press.

“It is going to happen,” a source familiar with the negotiations said on the condition of anonymity.

Earlier yesterday, Atlanta made another huge pitch for success, getting Tim Hudson in a trade from Oakland, and the Seattle Mariners signed another slugger, agreeing to a contract with All-Star third baseman Adrian Beltre.

Johnson, a five-time Cy Young Award winner, is in the final year of a contract that will pay him $16 million next year. He has a no-trade clause and it was unclear if the Yankees had to agree to extend his deal to make the deal work.

Johnson, 41, wanted out of Arizona so he could pitch with a contender. He went 16-14 with a 2.60 ERA and 290 strikeouts last season for the Diamondbacks, who finished 51-111. The Big Unit has 246 career wins and is third all-time with 4,161 career strikeouts.

The other players involved in the deal are Yankees prospects, catcher Dioner Navarro and third baseman Eric Duncan, who are going to Los Angeles, and Dodgers pitchers Brad Penny and Yhency Brazoban, who would be sent to Arizona. Navarro and Duncan were considered to be among the top prospects in the Yankees’ system.

None of the teams would confirm the deal.

In what has rapidly become a busy offseason, the Yankees are also close to finalizing contracts with free-agent pitchers Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, but Johnson is the player they coveted most to match up against the Red Sox and his former teammate, Curt Schilling.

“We’re still in conversations with a lot of different clubs about a lot of different possibilities,” Dodgers General Manager Paul DePodesta said. “We have talked about some three-way deals and some four-way deals. I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not.”

Green, who is also owed $16 million in the final year of his contract, hit 91 homers in 2001-02 but dropped to just 47 over the last two seasons. He finished 2004 with a batting line of .266AVG/.352OBA/.459SLG, with 28 homers and 86 RBI.

Vazquez, 28, struggled in his one season in New York, going 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA. He is owed $35.5 million over the next three years.

Penny, acquired in the middle of last season from Florida, was shut down with a shoulder injury down the stretch for the Dodgers. The 26-year-old right-hander has a 49-44 career record. Brazoban, 24, went 6-2 with a 2.48 ERA in 31 games for Los Angeles last season.

Earlier yesterday, the Braves swooped in and acquired Hudson from Oakland for outfielder Charles Thomas and pitchers Juan Cruz and Dan Meyer.

The Braves have won 13 straight division titles. Last Saturday, they got All-Star closer Dan Kolb from Milwaukee – a move that allowed them to move John Smoltz, who signed a two-year, $20 million extension with the club yesterday, back into the rotation.

With the A’s facing yet another payroll crunch, general manager Billy Beane finally broke up his “Big Three” starting pitchers of Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito.

The Georgia-born Hudson, 29, posted 81 wins from 2000-04, tied for the most in the AL over that span. He was 12-6 with a 3.53 ERA in 27 starts this season. Earlier this month, Hudson set a March 1 deadline for the A’s to offer him a contract extension, or he planned to leave as a free agent following the 2005 season.

After finishing at the bottom of the AL West and winding up last in the league in runs and homers, the Mariners reached agreement with Beltre on a $64 million, five-year deal yesterday, the AP learned.

Beltre’s contract was subject to him passing a physical, a person close to the third baseman said. The deal could be announced as early as today.

A day earlier, the Mariners finalized a $50 million, four-year contract with free-agent first baseman Richie Sexson.

Beltre, 25, led the majors with 48 home runs in 2004, posting a batting line of .334 AVG/.388 OBA/.629 SLG. He also drove in 121 runs, and finished second in the NL MVP voting.

“We’re disappointed. It hurts,” De-Podesta said. “Obviously, we would have loved to have him back.”

In other moves yesterday, Kansas City traded catcher Benito Santiago to Pittsburgh for prospect Leo Nunez. The Royals also must pay about $1 million of Santiago’s $2.15 million salary.