Twins/ Pavano Sign 2 year deal

Carl Pavano and the Twins agreed on a $16.5 million, two-year contract Wednesday night, ensuring the popular right-hander who made the 'stache cool again in Minnesota will be back to provide stability to the team's rotation. ESPN

I would be shocked if Pavano had a year like he did last year when he was 17-11 with a 3.75 era, I would actually be shocked if had above a .500 record next year. He happened to have a good year and he is an innings eater guy, but he's no good. He has a low strike out rate and high contact guy.

On another note, the Yankees tried signing Pavano to a one year, high salary deal. That's hysterical figuring they tried Vazquez again and that blew up in his face, and the same thing would have happened with Pavano.

Twins Closing Deal With Pavano

The Twins are nearing an agreement on a two-year deal with free-agent pitcher Carl Pavano, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

In 2010, he posted a 3.75 ERA with a 4.8 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 221 innings. I think that won't happen again, but he is the last "good" free agent left. I'm not a Pavano guy but he is an "innings eater". The Twins will be an interesting team this year and have some question marks surrounding Fransisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Justin Morneau and also will have to battle it out with the White Sox who are poised for a great season coming up. With Pavano gone all the attention will be turned to try and trade for Matt Garza or James Shields from the Rays.

Pavano's Market Clearing Up

With Zack Greinke being traded, and Cliff Lee going to the Phillies the market is starting to clear up for Pavano, who is the best free agent pitcher available. One would think the Rangers would make a hard push for him, but most rumors suggest that it is the Nationals, and Twins making the biggest push for him.

The Nationals surprised us earlier in the offseason when they threw crazy amounts of money at Werth, but my gut is telling me that Pavano will end up back with the Twins. I was very confused on why the Rangers aren't involved in all this after Lee left them for the Phillies, but there are rumors going around they would like to make a hard push for Matt Garza, so maybe that's why.

Rangers Turn Focus To Pavano

"Pavano's market may have grown by one, maybe two, in the aftermath of the signing of Cliff Lee in Philadelphia Monday night, with the Rangers being the most likely of the Lee losers to express interest in the veteran. Joel Sherman tweets that an AL executive believes the Rangers will bid on Pavano now that they have lost out on Lee (ESPN)."

Pavano, other then when he is pitching for the Yankees, has been very good. The Twins certainly want him back, but after the Rangers lost out of Lee I bet they go out and will overpay for Pavano. They need another starter, and Pavano is by far the best free agent available, unless of course the Rangers can go out and pull off a trade for Grienke.

The Rangers are also rumored to be in the hunt for Beltre, and could be looking to move Michael Young. They are looking into Chien-Ming Wang as well.

Pavano To Start Game 3 For Twins

"Twins manager Ron Gardenhire announced Carl Pavano to pitch Game 3 in Minnesota on Sunday. Pavano, a former Yankee and Red Sox farmhand, was skipped here in New York. Whether that was done because of the bad experience Pavano had here in New York is unknown. Nick Blackburn gets the nod tomorrow night for the Twins, 7-2 losers to the Yankees last night in Game 1 (Boston.com)."

Thank God. We all know the Yankees are going to win this series, but I would love it if Pavano came back and won Game 3 for the Twins. What a torn in the Yankees side if that happened. Anyways, at least it will make me be interested in this series...

Twins Add Carl Pavano

"The Minnesota Twins have acquired right-hander Carl Pavano from the Cleveland Indians in an attempt to shore up their rotation. The deal was announced Friday. The Twins will send the Indians a player to be identified later (ESPN)."

Pavano has been a tough guy to figure out this year. He has some good games, but then other times he gets lit up bad. Overall his ERA is above 5.00, but he really isn't that bad of a "back of the rotation" type of guy, and should be able to eat up some innings for the Twins. He has been healthy all year, which is something relatively new for a guy who never played during his outrageous contract with the Yankees.

Red Sox 2 Indians 9

Masterson had his 2nd tough outing in a row, and you have to wonder if he is getting a little tired. We have seen it before that when guys are thrown between the bullpen and the starting rotation it can really take a toll on their arm. I think Masterson is a very good pitcher, but I do believe he is destined for the bullpen. We can see the holes in the bullpen when he is not out there, so hopefully Dice-K will be back soon.

Anyways, Pavano pitched a great game going 6 innings allowing only 2 runs. Masterson was having a very nice outing until the 5th inning when he let up 3 runs. He ended up going 6 1/3 inning allowing 6 runs. This was Masterson's first loss at Fenway (he was 7-0).

I wouldn't read too much into this game. The Sox were playing without Ellsbury, and Youk. As much as DP hates Ellsbury, even he would have to admit there is a big difference between Van Every and Ellsbury in CF. There were two bad plays made by Van Every in this game that really ended up costing the Red Sox at least 2-3 runs. Then on top of that you have Bailey in instead of Youk. Bailey just can't hit the ball right now, and Youk is one of our best hitters. Hopefully both of them will be back soon and the Sox can get back to their winning ways.

Toronto won last night so the Sox are now 2 games back, but still 3 1/2 games above the Yankees.

Yankees Don't Pick Up Giambi/Pavano Options

"The New York Yankees declined their 2009 options on first baseman Jason Giambi and pitcher Carl Pavano on Tuesday, making the pair eligible for free agency. Giambi will receive a $5 million buyout rather than a $22 million salary next season, completing his $120 million, seven-year contract. Pavano gets a $1.95 million buyout instead of a $13 million salary, finishing his $39.95 million deal (ESPN)."

No surprises here. Pavano has done nothing for the Yankees, making only 26 starts with an ERA over 5.00. Most of his time with the Yanks was spent on the DL, and it just feels like he's one of those guys who really doesn't care about playing baseball. It'll be interesting to see where Pavano goes, but I don't see him getting more then a 1 year contract (maybe with some team options).

Giambi's time with the Yanks was a little odd. He wasn't terrible, hit 30+ HRs 5 out of his 7 years, but he was also in the center of the whole steroid thing. Near the end of Giambi's career with the Yanks his poor defense, and injury problems hurt his production and playing time. I still think he can get a good contract out in the FA market (because of his power), and for some reason I see him going back to the west coast (Oakland, Seattle, Giants, ect). I wonder if he'll still have that awesome mustache?

-BMack

Yankee Failures: Episode 1 - Carl Pavano

The Red Sox are making their final scheduled trip to Yankee Stadium. And in honor of the Big Ballpark in the Bronx, as well as its 85 year tenants, I present a series of posts documenting some of the biggest, most expensive, and funniest failed Yankees in recent history. We'll have all your old favorites, and some you may have forgotten about.

We start the series with Carl Pavano.



Pavano is in the last year of a 4 year, $39.5M deal with the Yanks. In 2005, he hit the DL with shoulder problems. In '06, a "bruised buttocks" caused him to sit (or stand) on the sidelines. He broke his ribs in a car accident on August 15, 2006. But he didn't tell the Yankees about it until the 28th, right after they told him that he was going to be activated off the DL.

Mike Mussina publicly questioned Pavano's desire to play.

"[Pavano] is only looking at it from his perspective, we're looking at it from our perspective. We want him to go out there and show us that he wants to do this."



Pavano wound up rehabbing his arm in Tampa. But never visited his teammates whenever they were in town to play the Rays.

Pavano is a free agent at the end of 2008. In 4 years with the Yankees, he's made 20 starts, gone 6-6, thrown 116.1 innings, with a 4.80 ERA. The Yankees have been in the playoffs every year since he signed, but he hasn't made an appearance in October.

He's been paid about $2 million per start. $6.6 million per win. $340,000 per inning, $113,000 per out, $608,000 per strikeout.



Carl Pavano will go down in history for three things...

1. Being traded from Boston to Montreal for Pedro Martinez
2. Giving up Mark McGwire's 70th homerun
3. Being a Yankee failure

-The Commodore