Pavano accepts arbitration
Kelly Thesier is reporting that Carl Pavano has accepted the Twins arbitration offer.
Thesier reported that Pavano informed the club before the 10:59 CST Monday deadline. In agreeing to arbitration, the right handed pitcher is now locked into the Twins 2010 roster. He joins only two other players to have accepted arbitration before the deadline.
Rafael Soriano of the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies Rafael Betancourt also agreed to arbitration before the deadline. Soriano agreement with Atlanta give the team one of the most impressive bull pens in the league on paper. Betancourt became the Rockies key setup man for the NL team after they acquired him from the Cleveland Indians in late July.
Carl Pavano
Although Pavano was a disappointment in New York, the pressure of being out of the big apple seems to have done him well. After moving out of New York and signing with Cleveland, Pavano managed to stay healthy and put up a 14-12 record in 33 starts after going 9-8 in four years with the Yankees.
Since becoming a free agent last month, Pavano has drawn the interest from a handful of teams, including the Indians and the Brewers. Thesier reported that Tom O’Connell (Pavano’s Agent) met with those teams to explore the possibility of Pavano going elsewhere, but, in the end, the pitcher felt the best fit for him was to return to the Twins.
“Carl just really thinks that team is ready to win now,” said O’Connell. “He thinks it’s a tremendous group of guys. He loves the coaching staff and we felt it was the best opportunity for Carl Pavano to win another world championship.
Pavano saw his career gain new life in 2009 when he bounced back from four injury-plagued seasons in New York to go 14-12 with a 5.10 ERA over 199 1/3 innings combined for the Indians and Twins.
“Carl was a huge contributor to our division championship this year in two months,” Twins general manager Bill Smith said. “We had a lot of good reports on him. He’s great in the clubhouse. He’s a competitor, as evidence he pitched that last Sunday [regular-season] game on three days’ rest. We know that he’s a hard worker and that he’ll do everything he can to carry over the success he had this year with us to 2010.”
Last year Pavano signed a one-year, $1.5 million base salary contract with the Indians as a free agent. The contract was incentive-laden, so with he was able to capitalize on his good season and wound up earning close to $4.35 million. Through arbitration Pavano should expect to see a large raise this year, but that is still to be decided later as the two sides will try to work out a deal before an arbitration hearing is necessary.
The Twins now have four starters on paper for their 2010 rotation. The Twins will have a rotation of right-handers Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey and Carl Pavano.
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