Twins Swing Deal for Carl Pavano

The Twins made an addition to their rotation for the stretch run on Friday, picking up Carl Pavano from the Indians for a player to be named later. With Kevin Slowey out for the rest of the season, the Twins needed another arm if they wanted to stay in the conversation with the Tigers and White Sox. Pavano's got an arm, which shockingly has worked without injury interruption this season.

You'll probably look at Pavano's 5.37 ERA and 1.36 homers allowed per nine innings and say the Twins didn't get anything that will help them. Digging a little deeper, though, there's reason to like the deal for Minnesota, even if most of it has to do with the lackluster cast of characters they're trotting out since Slowey's injury.

Pavano's got 88 strikeouts against 23 walks in his 125 innings this season and, more importantly, an xFIP of 4.15. For those unfamiliar with xFIP, the statistic focuses on the things the pitcher is directly responsible for (i.e., strikeouts, walks, home runs) to come up with a theoretical prediction of future ERA. It's not perfect, but it does add to the feeling that Pavano hasn't pitched quite as badly as it would appear at first glance.

And, again, we aren't talking about the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz Braves of the '90s here. Nick Blackburn and Scott Baker have done a solid job for the Twins, but Francisco Liriano and Glen Perkins haven't been any better than Pavano and the other starting options have failed to impress this season. Pavano's better than what they had and a decent gamble for the price.

There's two more votes in Pavano's favor. He's 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA against the Tigers this season and 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA against the White Sox. The Twins have 10 games left with Detroit this season, including three games this weekend, and six with the Sox. Doing well in those contests would go a long way toward vaulting them to the top of the division when all is said and done.