On the Yankees beat

Joe Torre and Brian Cashman decided it was best for Carl Pavano to show up here today, hoping his presence would alleviate some of the tension that exists between he and his teammates (who think he's a joke).

The jury is out on that.

"Whatever they choose to take from it or voice to him is certainly up to them," Torre said. "There was no meeting about the fact that he is going to be here, so here he is, guys, have at it. And vice versa. He’s a member of this team. My feeling is he should mingle a little bit and let them know he’s here."

That didn't really happen, at least not while us reporters were allowed in the room. Pavano stayed by his locker the whole time. Jaret Wright came over to chat, and Derek Jeter stopped for a brief hello. Pavano also spoke with Darrell Rasner and Randy Johnson, both of whom had lockers around him.

Pavano had no plans to address the team.

"We’re all men," he said. "I'm sure guys have things to say to me. I have an open ear. But I don’t expect me to be their focus right now. Their focus is obviously going after something more important than dealing with me ... I’ll be in the clubhouse. As far as I’m concerned, these are my teammates and we support each other."

Torre, meanwhile, had some very interesting things to say about what Pavano has to do going forward.

Here are some snippets.

About his status in the clubhouse: "He’s got some work to do in that regard. These guys busted their tails all year. And nobody is saying he wasn’t hurt. But you have to help yourself, and there may be some thought process that he could have done a better job helping himself."

About his upcoming offseason: "I think he has to understand what his priority is. Im not accusing him of anything. But the fact that baseball is something right now that has to be his life. He’s going to have to live his life that way."

Pavano had little to say in his defense.

"I could sit here all day and rehash everything, but it’s not going to do me any good. Personally everything I've done has been disappointing, frustrating, humiliating, so the best thing I can do is continue to look forward to 07. I'm not going to take anything away from the team. They played all year."

Here are some more Pavano snippets:

On whether it would be best for everyone if he was in another organization: "It hasn’t even crossed my mind. I’m a Yankee."

On maybe playing winter ball: "I've thought about it."

On whether the Yankees will try to void his contract: "That's the least of my concerns."

On the wallpaper of back pages screaming "Crash Test Dummy" that covered his locker in the days after the revelation of his car accident: "I haven't heard about that."

Also, he hired Gregg Clifton as his new agent. If you recall, he fired Scott Shapiro as his agent a year ago and told the union he was doing so because Shapiro did not follow through on his promise to get him a four-year, $40-million deal. Pavano, of course, signed for four years and $39.95 million. Anyway, he hired Clifton because, "This is getting to be too much for me to handle by myself. I need a sounding board, and he sounds like the right guy."

This is how I translate that: The Yankees will soon interrogate me about the details surrounding my car accident and I need to have representation. So I went with Clifton.

That's all from here for now. Enjoy watching Sheffield at first.