Yankees Starting Pitcher Ivan Nova Headed to Pittsburgh

The New York Yankees reportedly traded pitcher Ivan Nova to the Pittsburgh Pirates just minutes prior to the August 1st trade deadline for two players to be named later.

The Yankees successfully shipped off the majority of their impending free agents before the trade deadline Monday. They traded closer Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs a week earlier, outfielder Carlos Beltran to the Rangers in the afternoon, and finally found a taker for starting pitcher Ivan Nova right before 4 pm ET rolled around.

The only player with an expiring contract who remains with the Yankees is first baseman Mark Texieira. Between his no trade clause, poor production, and injury issues, it’s not exactly a shock New York couldn’t find a taker for Tex.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a reputation for buying fixer-upper arms, and they are presumably hoping pitching coach Ray Searage can work some of his magic on Ivan Nova in the next two months. Searage has previously resuscitated the careers of guys like Francisco Liriano, Jeff Locke, and J.A. Happ. 

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At 52-51, the Pirates are in a similar position to the Yankees. They are four games out of the Wild Card race, but have too many holes to be serious contenders. Pittsburgh didn’t quite buy or sell at the deadline, but they did reshuffle their beleaguered rotation, trading Jon Niese to the Mets for reliever Antonio Bastardo and Liriano to the Blue Jays for Drew Hutchinson.

The Ivan Nova acquisition seems to be in a similar vein to the Yankees recent trade for reliever Tyler Clippard, meaning a band aid for the pitching staff to make it seem to fans like ownership is not throwing out the white flag. Neither move is very convincing in that regard.

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball first broke the news that Nova was headed to Pittsburgh. Pirates beat reporter Adam Berry of MLB.com scooped the fact that the return was two players to be named later. 

It’s hard to analyze this trade from the Yankees side without knowing if they got anything of substance in return. Given the lack of proven starting pitchers available on the trade market the past few weeks, it seemed like there was at least a chance GM Brian Cashman could swindle someone out of a decent prospect for Nova.

Next: Yankees Trade Carlos Beltran to the Rangers

Either way, the move is a case of addition by subtraction. Removing Ivan Nova from the rotation means the Yankees can give regular turns to one of their guys having success in Triple-A like Luis Severino or Chad Green.