About an hour before the 4pm non-waiver trading deadline on August 1st, the Pittsburgh Pirates swung a trade with the New York Yankees. In this trade the Pirates acquired right-handed starting pitcher Ivan Nova in exchange for two players to be named later. Many people had some confusion of this deal.
Why the confusion? Well, it was twofold. First off, Ivan Nova will be a free agent at the end of the season and the Pirates appeared to be in the market for controllable starting pitching. Secondly, Ivan Nova had pitched poorly for the Yankees this season.
When the Pirates acquired Ivan Nova from the Yankees, Nova owned a 4.