Pirates land Yankees starter Ivan Nova minutes before deadline

Pirates Post-Trade Deadline Recap

Minutes before the deadline, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a deal with the New York Yankees to acquire right hander Ivan Nova for two players to be named later.

Nova, 29, has been on the Pirates radar for weeks as the team has sought to upgrade the rotation. How much if any did the Pirates upgrade the rotation is up for debate.

Was the Nova trade just a trade for the sake of making a trade?

From the Pirates end, they will be banking on that Nova has a J.A. Happ type run in him over the next two months.

Nova is 7-6 with a 4.90 ERA. He has a 75/25 K/BB ratio and 1.36 WHIP in 97.1 innings pitched.

Last season Nova went 6-11 with a 5.07 ERA. In 2014 Nova appeared in just four games due to Tommy John Surgery. His career has been on a decline since a 16 win season in 2011.

Pirates GM Neal Huntington dipped his toes into the market for a long-term starter but for the second straight year comes out of the deadline with a rental starting pitcher. Nova making $4.1 million this season is a free agent at seasons end.

The Pirates were involved in talks with the Tampa Bay Rays on Chris Archer and Matt Moore. Talks surrounding Moore intensified in the last 48 hours but Tampa Bay never came off their request of Austin Meadows or Josh Bell. The Pirates have given firm ‘No’s’ to any teams inquiring about both, though, in the right trade Bell could likely be had.

Moore was traded to San Francisco.

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