BRADENTON, Fla. — Former Yankees prospect Jose Tabata smoked a line drive into the glove of new Yankees right fielder Carlos Beltran on Wednesday afternoon, securing the Pirates’ first out of the second inning.
Then Joe Girardi walked to the mound to execute his first pitching change of the Grapefruit League schedule: Out with Ivan Nova, in with Bruce Billings.
“We were talking at [a limit of] 35 [pitches for Nova],” Girardi said after the Yankees lost their exhibition opener, 6-5 to the Pirates at McKechnie Field. “[I said], ‘You’re at 37. When the odometer’s a few too many miles, we go backwards for a little bit to get it where it’s supposed to be.’ ”
“I didn’t understand what he said,” Nova admitted, smiling. “We had a good conversation. Short, but good.”
“The analogy wasn’t working,” Girardi conceded.
Let’s steal one word from that awkward exchange and move forward: For the Yankees to attain their best chance of eradicating their nightmarish 2013, Nova can’t go backwards.
On a starting rotation that features multiple sinking stocks and one great mystery, Nova, the Yankees’ best pitcher in last year’s second half, represents a chance for both carryover and progress. He picked up just four outs with his 37 pitches on Wednesday, walking two and striking out one while allowing two hits, yet no one seemed terribly concerned this early in the spring. As long as Nova’s arm appeared strong, and it did, hope exists that he can match — or even better, exceed — his 3.10 ERA from last year in 139 1/3 innings pitched.
“He has all the tools to do it,” Girardi said. “Very good fastball, very good curveball and his changeup has gotten better and better and we’ll continue to work on it in spring training. He has the ability to be very good.”
“It was good, but that’s in the past,” said Nova, who added he doesn’t consider his starting rotation spot a given. “I know what I can do. I’ve just got to do it out there. Whatever’s in the past is in the past. This is a new year, and hopefully, it’ll be a good one.”
Nova has a history of cryptic quotes — in April 2012, he memorably declared himself “the best pitcher in the world” — and, more important, roller-coaster results. He went from the Yankees’ No. 2 starter in 2011 (3.70 ERA) to off the postseason roster in 2012 (5.02 ERA), and he had fallen off the radar in 2013 until he surged following a stint with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. From his return to the roster on June 23 through the end of the season, he tallied a 2.70 ERA in 17 appearances, 16 of them starts, totaling 116 2/3 innings.
“At the beginning of the year, we never thought we would’ve said, ‘Every fifth day, that’s the guy who’s going to lead us. Who’s going to go deep into the game. Give us a good game and a really good chance to win that day,’ ” said former Yankees catcher Chris Stewart, who is now with the Pirates. “He was the guy at the end of the season, for sure.”
The difference, in Stewart’s mind: “I think it was just a different mind-set. The second time around (following his time in the minors), we definitely saw a different purpose out of him. He went out and was going to be a bulldog, whether he gave up the hits or not or whether he was just going out and dealing. He had the mind-set that he was going to go out and get the next hitter out.
With Stewart gone, new Yankees catcher Brian McCann will be part of the crew charged with getting the most out of Nova once again. When Nova fell behind reigning NL MVP Andrew McCutchen, 3-and-0, McCann headed to the mound with multiple messages: Slow down your pace, and get your pitches down in the zone. McCutchen wound up stroking a single, but right now, it’s more about building relationships.
“When he’s got that two-seamer working like that, he’s going to get a lot of groundballs,” McCann said.
While Nova put up a 2.78 ERA in the second half last season, CC Sabathia’s was a ghastly 6.08 and Hiroki Kuroda’s a concerning 4.25 — 6.56 in his final eight starts. Michael Pineda didn’t pitch well enough even to get a call to the majors. Masahiro Tanaka of course arrives with a huge salary and high ambition, but the Yankees brace for a transition period from Japan.
Nova? He’s all systems go, the Yankees hope. They need him. He’s a rising stock who must keep rising.