Peter Gammons’ column this week is, as is expected, hot stove stuff with a lot on Boston. He had this to say about Carl Pavano:
Pavano has serious interest in the Red Sox because he wants to pitch with a mentor, and Curt Schilling is a longtime respected comrade.
I’m not sold on Pavano. I could go all stathead and say I foresee issues in the decline of his K/9 ratio (6.09, 5.96, 5.63) but you could equally argue that his K/BB numbers are promising (2.04, 2.71, 2.84) - losing command but gaining control. But it’s more than that. In general I’m not sold on NL starters who move to the AL. I know I support a team whose current rotation is comprised mostly of former members of the Senior Circuit - Pedro, Schilling, Arroyo, Wakefield - but I think that’s a uniquely high number of successes, and there’ve been flops too. Jeff Suppan in 2003 anyone? Or Javy Vazquez this year?