Pirates, Yankees discussing Ivan Nova trade

The Pirates and Yankees are discussing a trade involving starting pitcher Ivan Nova, Ken Rosenthal tweets.

Nova would presumably be less expensive to acquire than some of the other names to whom the Pirates have been connected. He's eligible for free agency after the season, and hasn't had a particularly successful season or career. There are, perhaps, signs that the Pirates can find something they can work with -- he has a strong 54.3 percent ground ball rate, and his 4.90 ERA is a lot worse than his peripherals. His main problem is that he's allowed home runs on 21.3 percent of his fly balls, and that number would likely come way down in Pittsburgh.

The Bucs had success with J.A. Happ as a rental last year despite Happ's underwhelming track record, and they might be hoping for a repeat of that success with Nova, who would fit into the back end of the Pirates' rotation.