Breaking: Ivan Nova is actually good

Consternation abounds in Yankee camp; amid Spring fever and rampant optimism, no one can figure out how to break it to CC Sabathia that he can’t pitch anymore. A text? A phone call? Geez…have they been together so long that it’s gotta be done in person? Ignoring the Sabathia debacle, however, there’s one key factor being routinely ignored in the glommed-up fifth starter race: fully rehabilitated, Ivan Nova is…actually good. He’s a five starter. He’s a four starter, actually. Heck, you could talk me into Nova as a three. I understand why this viewpoint is getting trampled and doxxed. Sabathia’s the mistake contract, the troubled hurler trying to piece his life back together who unfortunately lost his arm along the way. He’s the focal point of controversy because the whole second half of his Yankee career, post-opt out, has been a lightning rod of decline. The 2011 ALDS Game 5 relief meltdown. The 2012 ALCS dumpster fire to cap off another Tiger massacre. 2013, 2014, and 2015, a burial in three parts. But the Sabathia debate centers around his money; “They’ll never replace him,” Yankee fans crow, “because of those damn dollars.” The conversation never progresses to, “…but we’ve got a perfectly good replacement wasting away in the wings, now don’t we?” Because 22 months post-Tommy John Surgery, Ivan Nova’s sharp. And Sharp Nova, most recently seen in 2013, is solid, and can be sensational. Nova’s return last season was seen as a potential savior’s landing. His first start at home against the Phillies was right on the mark: 6.2 innings, 3 hits, zero runs allowed. That’ll certainly do. And surely he’d gain confidence and accuracy with each sinker hurled. Not quite. A 5-11 record from that point on, a descent into utter hittability. He didn’t record a single no-decision, an indicator that either he scraped out victory, or was so utterly clobbered that there couldn’t be any question as to whether or not he was guilty for the beatdown. The last time Ivan Nova, in the full-fledged flesh, stood on a Major League mound was the end of 2013. In 2013, he was nominally brilliant. He’d “found it.” Yankee fans had control-alt-deleted their Nova concerns, and were penciling him in as a #2 starter when baseball returned in April. The team would regroup from their extended Rivera/Pettitte funeral and actually attempt to compete again, with Nova near the helm. The numbers don’t lie: 9-6, 3.10 ERA, fewer hits than innings pitched, which is almost impossible to comprehend for a sinkerballer. More importantly, neither does the eye test. Nova was often poised under pressure, and when dominance was expected, he delivered. I’ll always remember an end-of-season meaningless game against the San Francisco Giants. The Yankees, all but eliminated, were on Fox’s national broadcast on a Saturday afternoon so Joe Buck could wax his own fugue about the decline of the dynasty. Nova didn’t have to shred the defending World Champs. He didn’t even really need to compete. The game was a backdrop to a National TV Rivera festival. Nine shutout innings. Six hits. Numerous Gregor Blanco flails. The curveball was snapping. Buck couldn’t help but change his tune. By the ninth inning, during a season in which the Yankees just didn’t throw shutouts, you absolutely knew Nova would finish the job. CG. Mission accomplished. Dominance asserted. Then, the elbow pain. Then, the rehab. Then, the return, never knowing where his arrows would land, or whether they’d create their own incorrect targets. His first blip of the spring was Sunday afternoon against the Twins. We all know “Bad Nova.” This column isn’t an attempt to prove he doesn’t exist. Curve looping, fastball flat, flop sweat burying craters into his hat. Bad Nova is very real. This column is an attempt to prove that he’ll hide more than he’ll appear in 2016. In actuality, Nova is a very good pitcher. A very good four starter with the potential to be more. And he only needs to be a number five. If CC's contract will allow.