The Lineup Card

Though I'm sure this comes as no surprise to most of you and to those guys in the Yankees clubhouse, Carl Pavano isn't exactly a man's man. Hey, it's not like he got the nickname Glass Carl from nowhere. Anyway, Will Carroll takes Pavano to task in his latest Under the Knife column:

• "Here's the long and short on Carl Pavano--even before he had an MRI or saw a specialist, he'd made the decision to have Tommy John surgery. Even after seeing specialists and finding that while his UCL was torn, it was not torn so significantly that doctors recommended the surgery. Much like Octavio Dotel a few years ago, though, Pavano is simply not willing to pitch through the soreness. There's probably a high number of pitchers in the game today (far too high a number, actually) that have similar, perhaps worse damage and get out there. I'm not advocating that anyone pitch with pain, but when the possibility exists that someone can come back without surgery, I think they owe it to the team paying the bills to do it. Pavano's not willing to, perhaps closing a chapter that the Yankees would rather not have had written. Call him 'American Idle' or the 'Rajah of Rehab' if you want. In my opinion, he's gone beyond that, and is simply stealing money."

Um, ouch. That's a pretty scathing indictment of Pavano. "Stealing money," that just stings. Keep in mind, this is Carroll talking, a guy who's made a career out of being an injury guru and who's conservative, if anything, when it comes to player injuries, so it's incredibly damning. It's also easy to see why Pavano has become a joke even in the Yankees' clubhouse.

Note: nifty dugout handshake after a home run with the Mighty MJD for the photo.

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

• #1 Comment from kpilgrim66 
  5/15/07 1:53 AM | Permalink

  Hey, hes not stealing anything. The Yankees and Brian "unlimited Cash"man have been throwing money around as if it was so much gravel. They dont mind taking a chance and risking a bunch of cash to do it. To the Boss, its as if he lost some pocket change. Remember Kevin Brown? They sure got a big return on THAT dime.