Twins May Bring Back Pavano

According to Baseball Prospectus’s John Perrotto (article is subscriber only) the Twins are interested in bringing back Carl Pavano. Good idea?

Pavano has had a very good 2009, with a 3.93 FIP. He has been even better with the Twins than he was with the Indians, being worth 7.7 runs above average in his time in the Twin cities (according to StatCorner). Pavano’s base salary was 1.5 million this year, but he will probably make close to 5 million when factoring in his incentives. 5 million a year for Pavano would be just fine, especially when you see that his performance has been worth 15 million dollars so far this season. It would be nice to sign him to a deal that would pay him largely in incentives, so the Twins wouldn’t get hurt too bad if he is unable to pitch.

Pavano seems to be a bit underrated by people in baseball circles, but he has thrown 170 innings this year, and teams are always in the market for a guy like that. His yearly salary might end up being closer to 10 million, and if that is the case I would rather see the Twins go after a pitcher who will throw a guaranteed 200 innings, rather than a high risk/high reward gamble like Pavano.