That's Our Carl!

Carl Pavano is apparently hesitant to take the Yankees' offer of a buyout of his contract and then accept a minor league assignment. The purpose here is Pavano accepting a buyout would clear room on the 40-man roster and the acceptance of a minor league assignment would provide insurance should the Yankees for whatever ridiculous reason, NEED him near the end of the year, assuming he's even ready to pitch by 2009. For those not in the know, Mr. Pavano had TJ surgery earlier this spring for an elbow ouchie(apparently there was no structural damage and the surgery was not required, the trooper that he is) and the recovery of TJ for a pitcher is usually 12-18 months.

So anywho, Carl has stated that this mode of operation would limit his options. What options, Carl? What options do you have? Is he afraid he might be forced to pitch in the minor leagues and he's somehow above that? Get over yourself, man. Do something to help the team for once. I'm big on giving guys second chances and I was fully pulling for him to have a good year, especially after that really good start against the Twins. But after a little elbow soreness, instead of electing just to miss a few starts(even if a stint on the DL was necessary) until it improved, he effectively took a giant dump on the Yankees' rotation plans for the season. And now he may not accept this plan the Yankees have put forth to him which does not take ANY money away from him. Wow. I really think there's nothing I can say to grace the consummate team player that is Carl Pavano. I try not to cast judgment on people based on the way they perform in sports, but I seriously hope he's somewhat of a better human than he is a teammate.