Thursday, June 30, 2016

Yankees Options to Replace Ivan Nova in their Rotation


Ivan Nova Sucks! Not really but if you follow along on Twitter you know that has kind of become my thing since Stephen Drew was manning second base for the New York Yankees. While nothing short of an act from God was going to save or help Drew it has seemed this season that the more I rag on a player and the more I tell them they “suck” the better they do. It’s a reverse psychology thing that I’ve been reluctant to say out loud but I feel like I have to in the curious case of Nova. He’s been terrible lately and in his last seven outings the right-hander has posted a 2-4 record with a 6.92 ERA with an ugly .313 batting average against him. If this post doesn’t work and turn Nova around here are a few options the Yankees could use to replace him in the starting rotation. 

Luis Severino. Any list that doesn’t start and end with Severino is an uninformed list and is wrong. Sure Severino has had his struggles this season but as a man that preaches sample size I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there is a much larger sample size of Severino dominating hitters from A-Ball to the MLB level than there is a sample size of him struggling. Since coming off the disabled list Severino has posted a 3-0 record with a 3.19 ERA down in Triple-A but more importantly than that he has been tweaking things and building confidence with strong starts and victories. He already has a 40 man roster spot and his option has already been used for the 2016 season. If anyone should come up in my opinion it should be Severino. 

If it’s not Severino then Plan B in my eyes is Chad Green who has also been opening up some Yankees fans eyes down beside Severino in the Scranton rotation. Green has flown under the radar after a bad start in his MLB debut which has covered up his (at the time of this writing) 0.98 AAA WHP and his 82 K’s in 81.2 innings pitched. At the time of this writing Green is leading the International League in ERA, is third in WHIP and is sixth in strikeouts. Green has also used his minor league option already for the 2016 season and already has a 40 man roster spot. If you’re not convinced Severino is back then Chad Green may be the best option of the bunch. 

We’ll lump the last two options together because honestly they may both be better off as bullpen pieces at this point. Luis Cessa and Phil Coke are both pitching well down in Scranton and both have made cameos this season with the big league club. Cessa owns a 40 man roster spot while Coke does not. Cessa is stretched out as a starter while Coke is in the process of being stretched out as a starter. Remember when I bragged about how good Chad Green’s WHIP was this season? Phil Coke’s is better as 0.96 and International League batters are batting a meager .202 against him as a starter. If all Nova is going to give you is five innings and six runs allowed what’s the harm in bringing up Coke for five innings and hoping that he can give up three runs or less? I don’t see one.


1 comment:

  1. Daniel,
    A little off topic but I think if they trade the top two of our BP, we do have some replacements, try; Ace and Nova

    ReplyDelete

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