Los Angeles Angels: Pitchers the Angels could sign alongside Gerrit Cole
By Jason Reed
3. Ivan Nova
Ivan Nova is the least appealing of these three candidates as he has the worst recent numbers, although they are still not all that bad. Nova finished 2019 with a 4.72 ERA and over the last three seasons has a combined 4.31 ERA. Again, not that bad for an innings eater.
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Nova is an innings eater as well, which is why he should be appealing to the Angels. Nova ranked 23rd in innings pitched last season with 187 and over the last four seasons has averaged exactly 30 games started per year. In that same span, Nova ranks 17th in innings pitched.
So why Nova? He is the perfect option to go after if the Los Angeles Angels do not want to spend too much on an innings eater. In fact, the Angels could probably get both Teheran/Miley and Nova in the same winter as Nova is not going to get that large of a contract.
His last contract was for three years and $26.5 million. At 33 years old he is not going to get that much, so if the Angels commit more years to him (two years with a club option), they can probably get him for around $5 million a season, which is a bargain for someone whose job is to be someone who stays healthy and keep the Angels in games.
There is nothing wrong with adding Cole, Nova and a third starter to give the Angels six starting pitchers. This gives the team flexibility with injuries and if everyone is healthy, it allows the team to run a six-man rotation to better accommodate Shohei Ohtani.
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Heck, maybe the Angels really go all-in and bring in another big name alongside Cole, such as Madison Bumgarner or Hyun-Jin Ryu and then have Nova be the cheap security blanket option.