Lockout Lookup: Carl Pavano

[RandBalls Stu]

This week, Twins Daily checks in on a veteran starting pitcher with an injury history who actually worked out for the Minnesota Twins. 

Subject: Carl Pavano

Why You Remember Him: Oh, man. Carl Pavano. Won a title with the Marlins, signed a big free agent deal with the Yankees, then promptly spent the entirety of that deal plagued by injuries (145 innings over four years!). He acquired tabloid nicknames like “American Idle” and “Crash Test Dummy” for his trouble, a helpful reminder that the Twin Cities media is a like a soft, cozy blanket compared to New York’s.

The Twins, who have been playing the reclamation project lottery for starting pitchers as long as I’ve been alive, scooped him up in a trade with Cleveland in 2009. Unlike Sidney Ponson, he thrived in Minnesota. Sporting an exquisite mustache from which he likely acquired the strength to build this late-career surge, Pavano was a horse in 2010, finishing 17-11 with a 3.75 ERA, seven complete games, and two shutouts over 221 innings pitched. Would people wear fake Pavano mustaches to Target Field? Yes. Yes, they would.

Because this is Minnesota and because they’re New York, he also lost two ALDS games to the Yankees in 2009 and 2010. (If you need a reminder, the 2009 loss was the game after Phil Cuzzi ruined Christmas and America and it was the final Twins game in the Metrodome; the 2010 loss was at Target Field to Andy Pettitte.)

Although not quite as effective in 2011 (9-13, 4.30 ERA), he still managed to eat 222 innings. If Dylan Bundy throws 200 innings with that ERA in 2022, we should name a suburb after him. Columbia Heights?

Pavano retired in 2014.

What You Don’t Remember: The PTBNL traded to Cleveland for Pavano? Yohan Pino. Five years later, he would make his first major league start for…the Minnesota Twins.

What You Might Remember: After a rough 2011 outing, Pavano beat the living hell out of a garbage can. If he’d only waited a few more years he could have been a valuable addition to the Houston Astros.

What’s He Up To: He did some TV work for the Marlins upon retirement. Most recently, he put his very fancy home on the market. The status of the mustache is unclear at this time, but Twins Daily hopes for the best.

View full article

[sorney]

I demand we name Bundy after Andover.  It fits.  No one is quite sure where Andover is, and no one is quite sure what kind of pitcher Bundy is.  It is a match made in heaven.

[mikelink45]

Perhaps we can name a trash can for him! 

[TexasTwinkie]

Another great feat of his was landing Alyssa Milano for a time...around that time she ended up with a line of clothing offered on MLB...I loved him as a Twin...got excited to see that they had actually signed and put up  a dollar bill at the bar on Cabbage Key (it's a thing) ....but shortly there after I was at a spring training game in Jupiter and he was stretching in right field no one else was around, I waited for him to finish and asked if he would sign a card...he glared at me and said I am working man...I was in my 40's not a kid and was not carrying a backpack (I hate those guys that sell stuff), it turned me off...it was probably an hour and a half before game time...I felt embarrassed that I asked, how dare I. Liked him slightly less after that. My Carl P memory. Thank you for listening. 

[Dave The Dastardly]

8 hours ago, sorney said:

I demand we name Bundy after Andover.  It fits.  No one is quite sure where Andover is, and no one is quite sure what kind of pitcher Bundy is.  It is a match made in heaven.

I'm afraid we'll cheer Bundy's first appearance and then his career will over. So Andover is a good nom de plume for the guy. Which coincidentally is French for "Who was that guy?".

Andover, by the way, was named for the first guy to win the state Annie, Annie Over contest; Andy Ober. He wasn't much to look at but he had a lot of balls.