Carl Pavano open to being a Marlin again

Carl Pavano may welcome the chance to pitch for the Marlins in 2009.

Right-hander Carl Pavano says he is open to a reunion with the Marlins. And wherever he winds up, Pavano is determined to shed his label as one of the biggest free-agent busts in baseball history.

Pavano played a key role in Florida's championship run in 2003. The next year, he won 18 games for the Marlins, a performance he parlayed into a four-year, $39.95 million contract with the New York Yankees.

But he spent most of those years on the disabled list, going 9-8 with a 5.00 ERA over just 26 starts and prompting Yankees fans and even some teammates to question his dedication.

Whatever. 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciated everything Pavano did to help the Marlins win the World Series in 2003, and he was an instrumental part of the team's success.  Also, one can understand his willingness to return home.  (He lives in West Palm Beach.)

But he would be a risk if the injury thing isn't behind him.  Another way to put it, if the club signs him and he ends up spending most of his time on the DL, he will have no value and couldn't be traded on a bet.

Pavano is expected to cost around $2 million for a one-year contract and I don't see how that fits into the Marlins penny pinching ways.  Then again, every now and then the Marlins make some questionable moves to obtain a veteran on the staff.

Example: Jorge Julio.

If the Marlins really have an extra $2 million lying around doing nothing, I would have rather re-signed Scott Olsen.  At least with Olsen, you're probably going to get a bunch of quality innings out of him.  Pavano?  Who knows.

The other thing is that Pavano is a RHP and assuming the Marlins won't go with just strictly right-handed starters, they would mean that either Sanchez or, god forbid, Volstad would be bumped out of the rotation.

I really don't see this happening, but I won't deny it is in the realm of possibilities.

Oh, I spoke of Olsen earlier and I found Jim Bowden's comments interesting about the reasons for acquiring Scottie O.

What do you like the most about Scott, the innings pitched, the durability, what?

“I like his competitiveness. He wants to win. He wants his teammates to play the game the right way. He wants them to hustle. He wants to win when he is out there. He’s got three plus pitches. He knows how to pitch and he’s just learning. He’s 24 years old and he’s already pitched 190 and 200 innings (in a season). So, he and John Lannan, Ross Detwiler, we have three good lefties in our rotation for a long time to build upon. He’s got great potential and we did a lot of homework on his makeup. We talked to a lot of teammates—not just from this year, but also from the last couple of years--because we really wanted to understand everything. And after talking to all of them, we feel we got a real good person who’s a great competitor and extremely tough.”

Just curious—what did Aaron Boone (former teammate of Scott Olsen) tell you about him?

“Aaron loves him and his competitiveness, says he’s a winner.” 

I want to focus on the "real good person who's a great competitor and extremely tough" part.

That is what I have always heard about Scottie from his former Marlins teammates for years.  I know I'm shouting at the rain, but I'm getting tired of reading articles written by such organizations as Baseball America, Fox Sports, and countless bloggers who go on the assumption that he will be a negative addition to clubhouse.  That is not the case.

This is probably the last time I will come to the defense of Olsen, since he is not mine to defend anymore.