Are they keeping the clock from starting for a minor leaguer?

Is he possibly a late season trade candidate?

Through one of the quirks of the free agent rating system, according to the Detroit Tigers Thoughts Blog, a free agent that goes on the DL seems to get his performance projected backward (or forward) at a pretty good rate.

Consequently, if he's good enough, Pavano could, though he'll only pitch five or six games at most, conceivably become a type A or B free agent.

The result of that is interesting too. It would lower even further his value to a team other than the Yankees (because they would have to give up a pick for him). Consequently, Pavano has an incentive to pitch well enough to seem capable to other teams, but needs to pitch poorly enough to not be a "top free agent."

My suspicion is that the Yankees want to seem him put his cards on the table rather than letting another team simply take a winger on him at low cost or with purely performance oriented contract next year. If that's the case, it's a minor satisfying revenge for the Yankees.