On Wednesday, we brought you the news that the Pittsburgh Pirates had inquired about Chicago White Sox starter Jose Quintana -- a sign the Pirates wanted to add some veteran help to a young and untested rotation.
On Thursday, the Pirates reportedly made a deal for a different starting pitcher -- re-signing Ivan Nova to a three-year deal worth $26 million, according to FanRag Sports' Robert Murray:
The Pittsburgh Pirates are signing right-handed pitcher Ivan Nova to a three-year contract worth $26 million, sources tell FanRag Sports. As a result of the newly inked pact, Nova will get a $2 million signing bonus.
Nova was one of the most polarizing free agents available. Though the soon-to-turn 30-year-old has a career 98 ERA+, he's battled inconsistency from season-to-season and start-to-start. To wit, his ERA+ in years where he made at least 15 starts are as follows: 116, 84, 129, 80, and 103 -- or fluctuating between above- and below-average levels of production from a starting pitcher.
What made Nova intriguing was the in-season variability that followed last July's trade to Pittsburgh. Under pitching coach Ray Searage's watch, Nova threw three complete games in 11 tries, all the while recording 17 strikeouts per walk and holding the opposition to four homers in 64 innings -- impressive for a pitcher who'd given up 19 home runs in his previous 97 innings.
Which Nova is likely to show up heading forward? There's no telling. But the good news, for the Pirates anyway, is that this contract isn't paying Nova to pitch like he did down the stretch. Rather, it's paying him slightly more overall than Edinson Volquez -- a former Pirates reclamation project -- will receive on a two-year deal from the Miami Marlins, and $22 million less than Rich Hill -- the market's other boom-or-bust starter -- signed for; Nova's payout, then, is expecting him to be more of a back-end option than a front-end one.
That's disappointing for a pitcher who, earlier in the year, was reportedly looking for a five-year deal worth $70 million. But it seems closer to Nova's true market value -- at least when you consider the risk involved.
