The Pittsburgh Pirates announced today that they have traded RHP Ivan Nova to the White Sox for RHP Yordi Rosario and international slot money.
Nova spent the last two and a half seasons with the Pirates after being acquired from the Yankees in 2016 for Stephen Tarpley and Tito Polo. He was always able to pitch a good amount of innings and at least hold up numbers akin to a 5th starter.
The injury bug caught up to Nova the last two seasons with the Pirates though, siphoning away some of his innings and overall production.
The Pirates return is a rookie ball player in Yordi Rosario, who had some pretty good numbers in the rookie league but is very much still raw at the age of 19. He is another lottery pick prospect for the Pirates. They also get an undisclosed amount of international slot money.
The White Sox get an innings eater that can stabilize their young rotation for 2019, the final year of his contract. And they have more than enough to give Nova the money he’s owed in his contract.
The Pirates clear payroll space and a rotation spot in the deal. The payroll goes down to around $70M with this deal and a rotation spot opens up. Whether that spot will be filled internally or externally is up for debate.
It seems clear the Pirates were motivated to move Nova to get rid of his salary and open up a rotation spot. It seems feasible to think they would upgrade in the rotation in some way. The offseason moves for the Pirates don’t appear to be done, but we’ll see.
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