The Phillies have signed right-hander Ivan Nova to a minor league deal, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter). Nova will earn $1.5MM if he cracks Philadelphia’s active roster.
The signing reunites Nova with Joe Girardi, who managed the righty over Nova’s seven seasons with the Yankees. Nova delivered some solid results in New York’s rotation (albeit missing large parts of the 2014-15 seasons due to Tommy John surgery) before being dealt to the Pirates at the 2016 trade deadline. Nova pitched for the Bucs through the 2018 campaign, before moving on to the White Sox in 2019 and the Tigers in 2020.
Never a hard thrower or a big strikeout pitcher (career 16.7 K%), Nova has relied on durability and a lot of ground balls as his calling card over 11 Major League seasons. However, Nova’s performance took a drastic dropoff last season, with an 8.53 ERA over the admittedly small sample size of 19 innings in Detroit’s rotation. Nova did allow four home runs in that brief stint, and issued as many walks (nine) as strikeouts.
Nova averaged 174 innings per season from 2016-19, returning from his TJ surgery with seemingly no loss of his former durability. If the 34-year-old has anything left in the tank, the Phillies could use Nova as an innings-eater at the back of their rotation, or as the first line of defense if any of their projected five starters suffers an injury or needs to be rested to rebuild arm strength. The Phils also signed Bryan Mitchell to a minor league deal earlier today, a former Nova teammate under Girardi in the Bronx.
Lmao
this was my exact reaction too haha
This is a good pickup, hopefully he can pitch well in Philadelphia.
If you want to lose it’s a good pickup.
Rather had Sanchez
Dombrowski may still sign Anibal…
Keep em coming. We need a ton of depth.
Life is just a fantasy…
Phillies really got the rest of the division scared now.
No harm in trying.
Another former Yankee for Girardi
What’s with the smutty advertising on this site?
I thought it was just me.
As a Nats fan im scared Ivan Nova has ace caliber stuff
Don’t worry, he doesn’t.
Should fit in nicely into that mediocre rotation
He’ll make a great battery with JT.
This is a who cares depth signing. I expect Didi to sign next.
not a huge Nova fan, but hey, maybe he works out and we have a cheap #5 (though gotta wonder how close we are going to be to the tax, see Francisco Liriano)
Never a reason to complain about minor deal. He can’t be worse than the other options and when he sucks no loss.
I just don’t understand how they continue to just sign these dinosaur pitchers, like there going to catch lighting in a bottle. All that money they spent on these Crappy players, they could of spent into some actual talent
Minor deals are as cheap as they come and every team signs about a dozen guys to fill out the AAA roster or to try out in the Spring. I can assure you that there will be many worse players signed to such deals.
I can assure you that you comment far too often. Thanks for that astute observation.
Ivan Nova? LMAO …. Funny thing is that the rotation is so bad he does have a shot to get a shot. LMAO. Did they get beat by the Tigers to sign Derek Holland? LMAO. But hey …. they signed Realmuto! LMAO
slight overuse of LMAO IMHO.
Girardi is reassembling his former teams from NY. While I question this strategy, I’m fairly confident that if he can get Mariano Rivera to come out of retirement he’d still be the best reliever in the Phillies pen.
Why not gamble on someone younger like Carlos Rodon?
That’s a very sexist thing to say.
Never been a big Ivan Nova fan but he did turn in a 16-4 season with the Yankees a lifetime ago (2011). And it came with the expected bad peripherals that a guy like Nova brings to the table. But on a minor league deal and the $1.5M payday if he even makes the Phillies, I can live with it. I just wonder if the Phillies will be able to live through this?
No upside here. Best case a innings eater with a 4 something era
Which is pretty much what a 4th or 5th starter does…. if he doesn’t no big deal as Velasquez rarely got out of the 5th inning…
Uh.
Easy signing to kind of poke fun of. But, Ivan Nova will definitely take the ball every fifth day & generally keep you in the game for 5 innings, or so. There’s more than a little to be said for that.
I don’t care for all the “value signing” kind of takes but at 1.5 MM this is a pretty good deal, man.
Agreed….if he makes the roster he’s a swing guy. Can start a game or throw multiple innings in games you don’t want to burn the pen out with.
Phillies have the absolute worst bullpen in baseball. Why would you have any worry over burning any of those dudes out? Neither Nova nor the Phillies bullpen is capable of getting major league hitters to make outs below a 6.00 e.r.a.
well, Philly is the home of Nova Nation, so he would feel comfortable here at least.
Dumpster diving for pitching after spending $115 million on Realmuto to try to avoid a bad team getting worse by not keeping their best player (Harper ain’t that dude). Even worse is having to dumpster dive for pitching to try and stay in 4th place in the N.L. East ahead of Miami. The same Miami team that you unloaded your farm system to obtain Realmuto. Now you have to pay him $115 million in an attempt to stay ahead of Miami and Sixto Sanchez and you have no farm system.
As if this has anything to do with the JT signing. It’s a depth move for a guy who may never make the roster. Chill.
Dumpster diving for a fifth starter. Why is this a big deal? There is no risk in this signing. None. They’re about to add Simmons at SS which upgrades the defense. Maybe tonight. Not a bad day for the Phils.
low risk , high reward. They do need depth for the rotation. I would like them to get another veteran not named Arrieta.
Phillies fans are beyond thrilled that Arietta is gone. I would like them to take a gamble on Chris Archer. I always thought this guy had good stuff but never could get it together. Another dumpster dive couldn’t hurt.
This is a good SP depth signing. Low risk, medium reward…
In typical underperforming in Detroit and then leaving fashion, I expect him to have a career year.
Nova could be a decent reclamation project for the Phillies
I really like him as a swing man out of the pen.
Not exactly Doc and Darling