The soon to be 32 year old Nova started 29 games for the Pirates in 2018 and finished 9-9 with a 4.19 ERA and 114 strikeouts as part of their rotation.
Nova earns eight million for the 2019 season and would be a free agent following that year so I can see the Pirates wanting to receive something for him and the Pirates appeared to be set in their rotation with Jameson Taillon, Chris Archer, Trevor Williams, and Joe Musgrove as their top four, so for a team with limited dollars to spend, Pittsburgh decided that eight million for an impending free agent was a bit high for their budget.
I might have kept Nova as the fifth starter and took what would have had the potential to be a pretty decent starting corps into the season and see what happened.
I would think had the team been in selling mode at the trade deadline, the Pirates would have likely been able to acquire a similar prospect in a trade, so that makes me think that as usual, the decision came down to the financial budget.
Still, I understand it as Nick Kingham pitched very well at times in his 15 starts and the cost difference between what the Pirates hope would be similar pitchers is pretty vast, so slotting Kingham into the fifth spot in the rotation makes sense.
Pittsburgh received 19 year old (turns 20 next month) pitcher Yordi Rosario.
Rosario split last year between the White Sox Dominican and Arizona league teams combining for an ERA of 2.57 between the two teams in 56 innings.
The interesting number is 70 strikeouts in those innings, so there appears to be some upside, although far from a sure thing.
I would think Rosario has a chance to start at Low A Greensboro, but may also stay in Florida and then be assigned in June to either Bristol (He'd be a little old) or West Virginia (He might be a little young).
Rosario's a lottery ticket, but an intriguing one.
Pittsburgh also signed journeyman righthander Jordan Lyles to an undisclosed deal.
Lyles was 3-4 with a 4.11 ERA in a season split between the Brewers and Padres.
Lyles started eight games for the Padres and made 16 relief appearances before his being traded to Milwaukee where he pitched in eleven games all from the bullpen.
Lyles will likely be in the bullpen to start and might be either a challenger for the fifth starting spot for Nick Kingham or the fallback option in case of injury or need.
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