The New York Yankees have four players on their roster who are eligible for salary arbitration and the team settled with one of them this afternoon. Ivan Nova agreed to a one-year deal as he continues to recover from Tommy John surgery.
New York announced they avoided arbitration with Nova on a one-year contract on Wednesday and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports the right-hander will receive $3.3 million - the same amount he earned last season. The 28-year-old made only four starts in 2014 before being shut down for the year with a right elbow injury and he ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of April.
He's expected to be back at some point during the first half of the 2015 season. In five seasons with New York, Nova is 40-22 with a 4.20 ERA and 1.39 WHIP in 93 games (86 starts), with his best campaign coming in 2011 when he went 16-4 with a 3.70 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in 28 games (27 starts). Manager Joe Girardi told reporters the right-hander was progressing "extremely well" back in September and it's been said his recovery has gone "incredibly smoothly."
With Nova's salary settled, New York must now work to avoid going to arbitration hearings for Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Pineda and David Carpenter. According to Baseball Reference, Eovaldi is expected to make $3.1 million, Pineda is projected to earn $2.1 million and Carpenter should pocket $1.1 million. New York acquired both Eovaldi and Carpenter in trades with NL East teams: Eovaldi came from the Miami Marlins and Carpenter from the Atlanta Braves.
The 24-year-old Eovaldi went 6-14 with a 4.37 ERA and 1.33 WHIP, but also notched career-highs in games started (33), innings pitched (199 2/3) and strikeouts (142). In the bullpen, Carpenter was solid for the Braves over the past two seasons. In 2014, the right-hander was 6-4 with a 3.54 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in 65 games (61 innings) and the season prior he was lights out, posting a 4-1 record with a 1.78 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 56 games (65 2/3 innings).
As for Pineda, the right-hander came over in a trade from Seattle prior to the 2012 season, but has only made 13 starts in three seasons with New York. However, those starts (all in 2014) were wildly successful, during which the 25-year-old went 5-5 with a 1.89 ERA and 0.83 WHIP.
Arbitration hearings will take place in February if the Yankees cannot reach deals with these pitchers before then.
