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