SAN DIEGO -- The Padres and David Wells have agreed in principle on a one-year deal, pending a physical exam, club general manager Kevin Towers said on Friday.

The contract is for $3 million guaranteed with incentives that can add another $4 million. He'll earn $1 million based on staying healthy, and he'll make about $176,500 per start from starts 11-27.

"I think this gives us a rotation that stacks up with any in our division and our league," Towers said. "When I saw Boomer on Thursday, he looked like he was in good shape -- and more than that, I think he really wants to pitch and contribute.

"He's not coming back because the market is inflated; he's coming back because he wants to get back to a World Series, and he wanted to do it here in his hometown. He wants to go out differently than losing a playoff game.

"This guy, when he's healthy, is one of the best big-game pitchers in the history of the game. I think this is the best rotation we've had in San Diego since we went to the World Series in '98. We've got a nice blend of experience and youth with Boomer and Greg Maddux, and with Jake [Peavy] and Chris Young and [Clay] Hensley."

Wells, 43, is 230-148 in his career across 20 seasons. Limited by knee surgery at the start of the 2006 season, he was 3-5 with a 4.42 ERA in 13 starts -- five after coming to San Diego in an Aug. 31 deal for catcher George Kottaras.

He was 1-2 for the Padres, winning the playoff-clinching game in Arizona on the season's final Saturday in Phoenix.

Wells spent part of the offseason hunting big game in Africa and came home with a hunger to pitch again. At the end of the '06 season, after he'd lost a 2-0 decision to the Cardinals' Jeff Weaver in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, Wells implied that he would retire unless a "sick offer" came his way.

"What's important for David is how he felt physically," Wells' agent, Gregg Clifton, said. "After he got back from safari in Africa, he felt great. He wants to win, and he believes the Padres have a chance of winning. He's a guy who loves to perform on a big stage, and that's the playoffs. He wants to get back to the playoffs."

Wells is 10-5 with a 3.17 ERA in 27 career postseason appearances, 17 as a starter. He has reached the World Series three times, winning it with Toronto in 1992 and with New York in 1998, when the Yankees swept the Padres.