Be thankful you aren't Carl Pavano

[OleMissCub]

aside from being a multi-millionaire....

http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/02/16/the-only-pavano-post-of-the-spring-promise/

Carl Pavano is in camp. He has to be because he’s on the 40-man roster. The Yankees asked him to accept a payoff on the final year of his deal then take a minor-league contract and he refused.

Pavano had surgery last June and almost certainly won’t be ready to pitch until 2009. He’ll be somebody else’s problem then.

To say Pavano is a pariah is an understatement. He asked one of the clubhouse kids for a small box today to store some things he had in his locker. The kid went over to a garbage pail, fished out an orange Nike shoebox, dumped a half-eated sandwich out of it and handed it to Pavano.

None the wiser, the “American Idle” (as the Post calls him), put it in his locker.

When the clubbies hand you garbage, that’s a sign your team has had enough of you.

[Doctor X]

Wow.

That earns a "Wow!"

So if he will not be ready to pitch, just what does he do there?

--J.D.

[Mattingly]

The fact that Carl Pavano refused to accept a buyout and an MiLB deal shows that he's purely greedy. Me, I'd be practically embarassed to accept $10-11m/yr while not contributing a thing to the team. Nobody wears his t-shirt, his jersey must be out of circulation (or steeply discounted for whatever is left in stock).

His only way to save face is to become a philanthropist and give away some of that money. As a Yankee, he's done absolutely nothing.

[NickU]

To say Pavano is a pariah is an understatement. He asked one of the clubhouse kids for a small box today to store some things he had in his locker. The kid went over to a garbage pail, fished out an orange Nike shoebox, dumped a half-eated sandwich out of it and handed it to Pavano.

That's great!

[Mattingly]

That's great!

I personally think that between the half-eaten sandwich and a few stale jelly donuts, Carl Pavano should've questioned his own worthiness of those items.

[metfan13]

Not sure why he should take anything less than what he signed for. If he'd won a couple of Cy Young's would they have bumped him up to Santana money, just because that would be the right thing to do?

Contracts work both ways.

Also, has Mike Hampton refunded any of his salary to the Braves?

[NYMets523]

Me, I'd be practically embarassed to accept $10-11m/yr while not contributing a thing to the team.

I find that hard to believe.

[OleMissCub]

I find that hard to believe.

Why would that be hard to believe? I would hope that my personal integrity would extend to the professional baseball ranks.

[whoisonit]

Why would that be hard to believe? I would hope that my personal integrity would extend to the professional baseball ranks.

So, does that mean you wouldn't take steroids and you would speak up if you had knowledge of wrong doing of the sort on your own team ?

[OleMissCub]

So, does that mean you wouldn't take steroids and you would speak up if you had knowledge of wrong doing of the sort on your own team ?

I would hope that I wouldn't take steroids if I played in the Major Leagues. Being a lover of the GAME of baseball and its history, I'd think that I wouldn't. However, if I wasn't such a baseball history lover and was just some jock, then I don't know. I might.

As far as ratting on my teammates. No. I wouldn't do that. My integrity would take a hit because I value camaraderie so highly.

[NYMets523]

Why should you protect cheaters? If you love the game and your friends did it, you should be appalled by it and have no problems telling the truth.

[Imgran]

It's harder when you know the guy.

[OleMissCub]

Why should you protect cheaters? If you love the game and your friends did it, you should be appalled by it and have no problems telling the truth.

Have you played competitive sports with a group of guys for a decent period of time?

Camaraderie is a very difficult thing to betray.

[whoisonit]

Have you played competitive sports with a group of guys for a decent period of time?

Camaraderie is a very difficult thing to betray.

You've given honest answers to difficult questions. However, to go back to your original declaration "I would hope that my personal integrity would extend to the professional baseball ranks" ; in regard to your teamates, who ever said taking the road of personal integrity is easy ? Often in life, it is not the easy road, so how do you face this decision ?

[OleMissCub]

You've given honest answers to difficult questions. However, to go back to your original declaration "I would hope that my personal integrity would extend to the professional baseball ranks" ; in regard to your teamates, who ever said taking the road of personal integrity is easy ? Often in life, it is not the easy road, so how do you face this decision ?

It's hard to say. I suppose I'd sacrifice integrity for some things but not others. I would feel bad about taking 10 million dollars if I wasn't doing anything to contribute to my employer. On the other hand, like I said earlier, my integrity would probably take a back seat to my camaraderie with my teammates. In a way, I view loyalty, even loyalty to a fault, as a type of integrity in and of itself.

Like you said, very difficult questions. But I wouldn't rat on my teammates.