Instead of being on a program to get him back on a mound sometime in September, righthander Carl Pavano has been shut down for the season with a bone bruise - three months after being told he had a strained shoulder capsule.
Since he's a free agent after the season, his career with the Twins could be over as well.
"It is what it is," a frustrated Pavano said during a telephone interview. "You have an injury. You do the work to come back and it didn't happen. You gotta move on and get ready for another day. That's where I'm at."
The diagnosos came after Pavano had another Magnetic Resonance Imaging exam in New York. Pavano had similar exams with the Twins this season, but the bruise went undetected in those.
Despite being asked a few times if he was upset with the way his injury was handled by the club, Pavano would not point fingers. He said that something similar happned in 2005 when he was with the Yankees. He battled tendinitis in his shoulder that year, and a bruise on the same bone popped up late in the season.
"We put it the work to get it right," he said of the Twins' training staff. "Me and the staff, and this was the outcome. Because it didn't go your way doesn't mean you can change everything."
It should be pointed out here that Altchek saw the Twins' MRI exams back in May and concurred with what they concluded. He even told Pavano at the time that he could tell that the shoulder was getting stronger.
Twins assistant Genera Manager Rob Antony, who is traveling with the club on this road trip, admitted that he was surprised by the diagnosis.
