The Tigers announced that they have signed righty Ivan Nova. It’s a one-year deal with a $1.5MM guarantee and $500K in incentives, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck (via Twitter), Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter), and Robert Murray (Twitter link). To create roster space, lefty Matt Hall was designated for assignment.
Nova is an exceedingly reliable but not an especially upside-laden pitcher. He has been good for about thirty starts and 170+ innings of low-walk pitching annually over the past four seasons. But with a cumulative 4.31 ERA in that span, and a lengthy track record of below-average strikeout rates, Nova can’t be expected to do much more.
The question is whether Nova can even maintain that level of productivity. He just reached his 33rd birthday and sat below the 93 mph level with his four-seam fastball for the first time in 2019. Nova also is coming off of his worst campaign since 2015, turning in a 4.72 ERA after three-straight years in which he sat in the 4.14-4.19 band at season’s end. His strikeout rate dipped to lower than six per nine innings and Nova allowed more than 1.4 homers per nine for the third-consecutive year.
Despite some evidence of a downturn, Nova was mostly the same pitcher. More than anything, his proclivity to surrender runs may just have risen along with the leaguewide tide. His relatively hefty innings total also reflects the fact that he was allowed to oface opposing hitters for a third time more than was perhaps desirable. In 191 such plate appearances, batters slashed a robust .308/.374/.552.
For the most part, the Tigers can anticipate receiving a reasonable volume of palatable innings. The club obviously saw reason to pick up some sturdy frames in 2020 while waiting for their top-rated upper-level arms to finish off their development. Nova will suit that need at an affordable price. If all goes according to plan, he could even be cashed in at the trade deadline.
The addition of Nova could come at the expense of losing Hall. The 26-year-old southpaw could be targeted on the waiver wire by teams that fancy a shot at unlocking his upside. Hall has been knocked around in brief MLB action, but produces spin on his curveball at an elite rate and has shown strikeout ability in the upper minors.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I might put money on Hall being the next guy who revitalizes his career overseas
Good on them for having a decent 1,2,3 coming into next year, assuming Fulmer is healthy. BTW can anybody here tell me when Fulmer should be back, because I haven’t heard anything recently.
Projected to be mid season. Most likely July
Thank you.
you’re welcome
Nova is a decent 1-3 arm in your mind?
On a rebuilding team, sure. On a team with playoff aspirations? No way.
White Sox were rebuilding last year and he was in the #2 or #3 guy by default, but that doesn’t mean he was decent. When he’s on, yes, he can be a solid #3, but when he’s off, he’s really bad. It’d be fine if he was a rookie, but a seasoned veteran ought to have a lot more consistency.
Rebuilding team 101. Sign someone to eat innings give you a chance in most games
Agreed. Eat innings, keep the bullpen fresh, give you a chance in games, and possibly even become a trade chip.
All this talk of eating innings makes Bartolo hungry.
I love the signing. Unfortunately, Matt Hall wasn’t able to capitalize. I hope he can make his way back to Toledo.
Most likely gonna be released. Lotta pitching in Toledo
Biggest news of the day!
Pretty obvious mlb forced DET to announce this now to take the attention away from the firings and the rampant cheating. Nova will now adorn the front page of newspapers worldwide tomorrow
Rox and Cards have settled on an Arenado trade, but they’re sitting on the news at Mo’s insistence so Luhnow has the spotlight until tomorrow.
Double LOL
Nope, it’s Twins and Rox. Sano and Buxton for Arenado, Blackmon, Desmond, Shaw and Davis.
This is great news for Colton Welker, the next Stan Musical
And I thought Damn Yankees was the only baseball musical
LOL
I expect Nova and Godley, both to eat up a combined 300+ innings next year. Expect Godley to bounce back and get back to his ‘17 and ‘18 form
Look forward to WSox getting their crack at him.
Nova actually had a handful of decent starts for the Sox last year. If anything he was reliable.
Reliable in that he was on the hill with regularity. Not reliable at all in being able to count on him for a given outcome.
Has to be very achievable incentives because no reason he couldn’t get $5M and be someone’s 4th or 5th starter.
No reason other than the fact that nobody offered it.
how did Eric Chavez never make an all Star team?
Racism.
Ah, the eternal conundrums…..
Why do people still take any stock in all star game “voting”?
I don’t know a single person who does…
lots of married couples do
Alex Rodriguez.
Hank Blalock?
Miguel Tejeda.
Kenesaw mountain Landis is taking a big swig out of his moonshine jug.
Pretty nice back end piece. Dependable if not spectacular. I thought he might be an Angels target before we grabbed Bundy.
Good signing for the price. Now Avila just needs to go get an OF (Puig) & 3B (Flores).
Cameron certainly isn’t the answer, but unfortunately, I think they’re done.
I’d like Puig in RF but I think Candy is getting one more year to put it together. Not that Flores would be a terrible move for the Tigs.
Hopefully they get Billy Hamilton and Jarrod Dyson so nothing falls in the outfield. Both are cheap and flippable too. While we’re at it, get Weiters for a backup to Romine. Cozart is available now too at the league minimum so there’s our utility guy.
Do that, and maybe, we’re an entertaining 60 win team instead of an unwatchable 40 win disgrace to baseball. Even still get a top three pick.
Considering Tiger’s recent track record I see Nova on DL by May 1st. He’ll last longer than Matt Moore. Hopefully as long as Tyson Ross.
One thing that Ivan does is give you decent innings.For this amount of money he is a good signing for the Tigers as he can be used in the bullpen if he ends up blocking anyone.He is not quite good enough to flip to a contender though.
Does anyone think the Tigers should consider Lonnie Chisenhall on a minor league deal and ST invite? LH hitter, RF and 3B/1B. Hasn’t played since ’18 and that wasn’t much. Always liked him in Cleveland.
Lonnie is no 3rd baseman.
Even Chisenhall would agree with that.
That’s no moon
lol
I think that there is something more going on with Chisenhall than just leg injuries as he has never really played a full season but does have ML ability.
Tigers swooping in while everyone is focused on the Stros. Love it
I’m willing to bet the Tigers rotation is top 10-15 in baseball this year. Seems promising for the next decade with Mize and Manning looking like they will be the real deal. Norris and obviously Boyd and Fulmer are talented too, and they have some intriguing mid level prospects like Alexander and Funkhouser.
Don’t think we’ll see more than two from Toledo, and even then it will be later in the season. Losing 99 would be a tremendous improvement.
Don’t forget about Tarik Skubal. He has a real chance to be better then Mize and maybe even Manning.
You’re on crack if you think top 10 rotation… the Tigers defense alone virtually guarantees no chance of that… they have one of the very worst defensive teams in the league. And when you have very little run support and horrendous defensive support, it’s easy to become demoralized as a pitcher. That’s a huge part of the reason why pitchers on clubs that lose 90-100+ games almost universally have sky high ERA’s.
Maybe so, but Funkhouser is a top 10-15 name.
Kyle Funkhouser will be 26 in March and had an 8.53 ERA at AAA last season in 18 starts. He is best case scenario Spencer Turnbull this season. And that’s being unfair to Spencer Turnbull. If Funkhouser pitches in the bigs consistently ever it will probably be as a bullpen piece.
Release a pitcher with upside in favor of a guy who’s already gone in the other direction makes no sense unless the Tigers are acting on an understanding that it’s the responsibility of rebuilding teams to sign pitchers like Nova.
Once a great pitcher. On the other hand, unlike Houston and Boston, the Tigers are not out to cheat, They just do not know how to rebuild other than losing as many games as they can.. I would not be surprised if they have hired staff to give their opponents their signs..
Nova was once a great pitcher? lol
Joe-Just the facts ma’am!Just the facts.
7-5, 3.72 era, and 2 complete games 2nd half of last season with Sox!
GL to him except when he faces the White Sox!
Tigers signing all the AL central cast-offs! If they were good enough for you, they’re good enough for us! Now we just need Castellanos to come back to the AL central.
Oh cool. Another aging pitcher that will, more than likely, be less than mediocre.
Detroit “forever rebuilding” Tigers.
Tigers have only been rebuilding since 2015 lol
They won 85 games in 2016.
The rebuild has not been going on that long
A better signing for the Mets than Porcello.
Ivan Nova + 8.5m worth of bullpen arms are surely >>> Rick Porcello
With so many teams still needing to fill out their rotations and not many reliable starters left out there, I’m surprised Nova got that small of a guarantee. Good signing by Det.
The scam that is rebuilding continues under the cheapskate guidance of Chris Illitch. The Tigers aren’t even trying to put a competitive team on the field, and if there’s one thing the “rebuilding” nonsense has taught us, it’s that there’s no significant talent in any of their farm raised players who got a look last season. Not a single one of them. This is a team with nothing aside from two highly-touted minor league pitchers and an outrageously over-priced veteran future-HOFer in steep decline. They could at the very least make an attempt to field a team capable of maybe playing .500 if they’d spend a few bucks, some valuable players are still out there… but, they’re instead going to put another terrible 100-loss team out there in 2020. The Tigers are going to be playing dreadfully terrible baseball for years to come.
it’s called “tanking.”
How they ended up worse than Baltimore…
Now the tigers have one signing left to do this offseason, a RF and I have a good feeling we will see old friend Cameron Maybin back after having a resurgence with the Yankees last year
It’s crazy that Phil Hughes and Joba, who both had much higher expectations, are out of baseball and Ivan Nova is still working.
Nova for 1.5m just makes the Mets giving 10m to Rick Porcello that much worse.
Nova outpitched Porky last season, and his last 3 years aren’t much worse than Porky’s, either. The Mets could have spent the 8.5m difference on a real bullpen arm, and it has to be the case that
Nova + 8.5m bullpen arm >>>> Porcello
It gets even worse if you figure the Mets could have signed Josh Donaldson and Cole Hamels for about what they paid for Porcello, Wacha, Betances, Marisnick, with the proviso that signing Donaldson would have allowed the Mets to move Jeff McNeil to LF and package JD Davis and Dom Smith with Lowrie in order to get rid of Lowrie’s 10m salary.
There isn’t a worse FO in the majors than the Wilpons and Van Wagenen. Clueless, uncreative, with no idea at all how to build a team. They’ve also done nothing to improve Syracuse and Binghamton, two teams that supplied no one useful to the MLB squad and won’t again in 2020. The incompetence is surreal.