Pavano ‘Shut Down’ With Arm Soreness
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Yankees right-hander Carl Pavano still couldn’t straighten his right arm yesterday, a day after leaving a rehab start in which he threw just nine pitches.
Pavano retired the side in order in the first inning of Double-A Trenton’s game against Portland on Wednesday before leaving because of arm soreness. It was Pavano’s third rehab start since bruising his buttocks while fielding a bunt in spring training. His 2005 season was cut short by rotator cuff tendinitis.
The frustrated starter said he didn’t know what was next.
“No idea. But as far as pitching, I don’t think that’s the next step at all.”
The Yankees want to wait and see how Pavano feels after the tenderness in his right arm subsides before deciding how to proceed.
“It’s a shutdown right now, actually,” Joe Torre said. “When you have problems as early as he did last night we certainly have to make sure that there’s no discomfort before you proceed.”
Torre said he thought Pavano, who is in the second year of a four-year, $39.9 million contract, would need one or two more rehab starts before he left Wednesday’s outing early. But now the pitcher’s schedule needs to be re-evaluated.
“Hopefully it’s nothing more than a little setback but for sure it’s something that changes our plans,” Torre said.
Pavano threw six strong innings for Trenton in his second rehab start and didn’t think anything of some soreness he experienced after throwing 63 pitches in the outing against Bowie.