Nick Johnson is back and Johnny Damon said so long, explaining he and the Yankees couldn’t get together on a two-year deal.
The Yankees agreed with the 31-year-old Johnson on a one-year contract worth $5.5 million with another $1 million in incentives that will become official after he passes a physical Monday.
As for Damon, The Bronx is in the past.
“That’s how it is,” Damon told The Post yesterday. “It was a team I had an eye on returning to, but that’s part of baseball. They had a certain budget and we came off our [requests] big time.”
According to a Yankees official, Damon reduced the length of his asking price from three-to-four years to two, but was still looking for $13 million per year. A source in Damon’s camp said he asked for two years and $20 million and the Yankees countered with two years for $14 million.
“The Yankees made us an offer [Thursday] at 4 o’clock and we responded at 4:30 and they told us that Johnny just didn’t fit in their budget,” Boras told the Associated Press.
The Yankees may have done two for $20 million before they signed Andy Pettitte, acquired Curtis Granderson and signed Johnson. The Yankees heard from other voices that Damon initially was looking for three to four years for $13 million per.
“I know what I meant to the players there and to [general manager Brian] Cashman,” Damon said of his four-year stint in pinstripes. “When a team is stuck with a budget, there is nothing to do.”
So Damon, 36, waits for free agent outfielders Jason Bay and Matt Holliday to sign before knowing where he will play.
The Giants and Braves are looking for outfielders, but the Braves are strapped for money. Even if they move pitchers Derek Lowe or Javier Vazquez, they may not have the money for Damon.
“I know some teams are interested but some pieces have to move,” said Damon, who hit .285 with 77 homers and 296 RBIs and scored 410 runs in 576 games as a Yankee. He took advantage of Yankee Stadium’s short porch to hit 24 homers (tied a career high) this past season when he batted .282, drove in 82 runs and scored 107 in 143 games.
Johnson, 31, is being looked at as a two-pronged replacement. He will take over for the departed Hideki Matsui as the designated hitter and could replace Damon in the No. 2 spot between Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira. Granderson also is an option hitting second.
Johnson had interest from the Mariners, Giants and White Sox to play first base. However, he decided returning to the organization he started with as a third-round pick in 1996, was too strong to pass up. He played parts of three seasons with the Yankees before being dealt to Montreal in December 2003.
First base is not an option with the Yankees because Teixeira is entrenched there. However, Johnson is considered a better fill-in defensively at first than regular right fielder Nick Swisher, so on the rare days that Teixeira sits, Johnson likely will play first.
Johnson’s health has been an issue his entire career — he missed entire seasons in 2000 and 2007, as well as big chunks of 2003, 2004 and 2008 — but it’s believed that being used almost exclusively as the DH will cut down the chances for injury.
Johnson batted. 291 with eight homers and 62 RBIs in 133 games for the Nationals and Marlins last year when he posted an impressive .426 on-base percentage.
Without Damon, left field currently is filled by Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner with no chance of the Yankees spending the money to land Holliday.
The Yankees also have an interest in utility man Mark DeRosa, but aren’t sure about his defense in the outfield.
george.king@nypost.com