The Pavano Principle

Your favorite and mine, Carl Pavano, is apparently working hard to come back from Tommy John surgery and years of costly malingering. According to the Post, Pavano could be back early in August, before Phil Hughes is expected to return. This brings up a huge philosophical issue.

My take? I don't care what kind of shape the Yankees are in, I don't care if Kei Igawa is in the rotation. I don't care if Dan Giese is the number one starter, and everyone else is on the D.L. I do not let Carl Pavano step on the mound in pinstripes ever again.

I realize baseball is a business. I realize the only concern should be winning. I realize all of these things and I still cannot, in good conscience, see myself ever rooting for this guy again. He got a $40M free ride from the Yankees, now that the gravy train is on the verge of running out he's finally motivated, but why? It's pretty clear that his only motivation for "working hard" to come back from his latest injury is to show enough promise in the final two months of the season to earn himself some kind of an offer from another team for next season.

You know what, not on our dime. As far as I know, the Yankees are under no obligation to activate Pavano from the 60 day disabled list when he says he's ready. By the way, if he does come off the 60-day DL, that means the Yanks have to drop someone from the 40-man roster. Pavano should be left out in the cold to rot. Let him try to rehab his reputation in the offseason, when he's someone else's problem. Pavano is worthless, beyond worthless. I can only hope the front office's hellbent desire to fix the rotation internally will not stoop that low.