Still no Yeti sighting

Carl Pavano has become a joke. A $10 million/year joke...only the Yankees have that kind of devil may care sense of tomfoolery.

Pavano’s New Injury Bemuses the Yanks

Technically, Johnny Damon has never been teammates with Carl Pavano. They have occupied the same Yankees clubhouse, but Damon has never played behind Pavano, who has had more disabled-list adventures than any pitcher in memory.

When asked for his reaction to Pavano’s latest debacle — two broken ribs as the result of a car accident he waited almost two weeks to report — Damon showed sarcasm befitting a skeptical clubhouse.

“I hope his car didn’t get dinged up too bad; I heard it’s a Porsche,” Damon said. When told the car had been damaged, Damon sighed and said: “It did? Son of a gun. That stinks. Well, maybe that means he gets a new one.”

Damon later said that Pavano had been “dying to get back on the field,” but added that he did not know him well. They fished together in spring training, when Pavano, who earns $10 million a season, was still considered an integral part of the team.

Now, the Yankees have mostly written off Pavano, who has gone 428 days since last pitching for the team.

The whispering over the past couple of years is that Pavano just doesn't want to pitch for the Yankees. If that's not the case and I were Pavano, I would not want to pick up the paper and read this:

“I know there’s a lot of stuff flying around that he doesn’t want to pitch here, but he’s been held back by physical issues, and they’ve all been legitimate,” Cashman said, adding later, “Players can’t play through marble-sized bone chips.”

Pavano missed three months last season with a shoulder injury that did not require surgery. He had injuries to his back and buttocks last spring before surgery in May to remove a bone chip from his elbow.

When Pavano has been around the team, some players have been exasperated by what they say among themselves is his apparent indifference, citing that he has been a regular on the massage table and is often seen munching candy bars.

While the team captain, Derek Jeter, said Pavano would be welcomed back, Torre acknowledged he would have to earn the respect of his teammates.

“You have to walk into this clubhouse, dress next to these guys and carry your share of the load,” Torre said. “That’s what it amounts to. If that’s a little tough to do at first, so be it.”

Ouch.

But I do wonder if there's any fuzzy pictures out on the internets of the abominable right hander munching candy bars?