Pittsburgh Pirates: Trade Deadline Report Card

Ivan Nova 

Breakdown: 7-6, 4.90 ERA, 5.09 FIP, 1.8 HR/9, 1.356 WHIP

Meh. That’s all that needs to be said. If Nova becomes Ray Searage’s latest reclamation project, great. But he will be a free agent after this season. So Nova is, essentially, a rental player and an uninspiring one at that. I don’t see how the Pirates can get a positive result out of this trade.  At worst, Nova will stink. At best, he will be JA Happ 2.0. Lame. If the Pirates wanted to get a Yankee starting pitcher, I would have preferred for them to go after Nathan Eovaldi or Michael Pineda. Both of those guys have more upside than Nova and would have been better long-term options for this team.

I’ll be the good guy and give Neil Huntington the benefit of the doubt, but I can’t seem to understand why Evoldi or Pineda would have come with a hefty asking price. Is Nova, at the very least, an upgrade over Ryan Vogelsong or Fransisco Liriano? Probably, but what does that say? Not a whole lot if you ask me. Unless the Pirates spoke about those two and were asked to give up too much, I  don’t see why the Pirates felt the need to settle for Nova.

Trade Grade: C-

Next: Out with the new, in with the old