9:39AM Thursday
February 28, 2013

14-year veteran starting pitcher Carl Pavano was looking to land with a major league team this offseason but his focus is currently on bigger things in his life. Pavano suffered a freak accident this winter while shoveling snow. He slipped on ice and jammed the handle of his snow shovel into his abdomen, rupturing his spleen. Pavano told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he feels "lucky to be alive".

The accident occurred on January 12th at his Vermont home and at the time, he didn't think that he had suffered any serious internal damage. Four days later, he realized that he had ruptured his spleen and he underwent surgery on the 19th, where doctors had to remove 6 1/2 liters of blood from his chest cavity. The veteran told the paper that he has lost 35 pounds in three weeks after his surgery and that he is currently still too weak to pick up his children.

His chances of returning to the pitcher's mound this season seem pretty remote at this point, but he has taken the right attitud...