On second thought, no, I don't want to know. A nation turns its abusive ire to you, woo-hoo-hoo... Except the Rajah of Rehab, the Sultan of Stall, the Duke of the Disabled List himself has turned up at Tampa Bay. What's it about now?"Sometime this summer, that's the best-case scenario for him to be competitively pitching," GM Brian Cashman said. "Whether that's rehab games or more, we'll see."Oh, puh-lease!
Cashman said Pavano was in Tampa early - pitchers and catchers report Thursday - "to get an early start. He'll be in spring training with the big-league club, he's on the 40-man roster and all 40-man players and non-roster invitees come to camp.
"At some point, I hope he can get some stability to his health to allow him to perform. When he's healthy, he has a great deal of ability. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to see that in New York."
Pavano, 32, is 5-6 in 19 starts for the Yankees. He went 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA in two starts last year.
With pitching guru Billy Connors watching from a nearby golf cart, Pavano played catch yesterday in the outfield grass for seven minutes and then took a break, sitting next to Connors. He rested for six minutes and then threw for another five. Pavano's longest throws reached around 80 feet.
It generally takes pitchers 12-18 months to recover from Tommy John, or ligament replacement, surgery. Then, Cashman said, the pitcher's command usually is not the same for the first year back.
"His rehab has been excellent and he feels really strong," said Pavano's agent, Tom O'Connell. "He's very optimistic about getting back on the mound."
At some point you'd think Brian Cashman would give up. It was a bad, bad, bad signing, but Cashman was not to know that Carl Pavano would turn into a lemon the moment he signed for the Yanks. The way the Yankees are going, they sure don't need Pavano to be up and running, ready to pitch in August. The starters already go 7 deep before they have to even consider the likes of Kei Igawa as an emergency spot starter, not to mention there is a long line of prospects back through Scranton to Trenton to Tampa and then some before Joe Girardi has to put a gun to his own head and say Pavano starts. Even if Pavano were then to pitch back to back Perfect Games, I don't think there's a single Yankee fan who would forgive him. It was a bad enough joke that he opened the 2007 season. Please, let's not even pretend that there' a chance that Carl Pavano is going to supply any amount of value to the Yankees.
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