Report: Yankees to increase shopping of Ivan Nova

Earlier this morning at his annual holiday repel down a Stamford, Conn. building, Brian Cashman was asked about his pitching staff and the importance of Ivan Nova:

Cashman on value of Ivan Nova: "Who (of the current NYY starters) is more likely to give me 200 innings next year? I would easily say Nova."

— Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) December 4, 2015

Now comes a report from George King of The Post that says the Yankees may begin to "ratchet up" their shopping of Nova, who expects to have a bounce back year in '16 another year removed from his Tommy John surgery. King notes that the White Sox were interested in Nova and Jesse Chavez of the A's, and even when Chavez was traded to Toronto, the level of interest in Nova remained the same. Could Cashman be talking up the 27-year-old righty in an effort to entice teams to come knocking at the door? Earlier in the offseason, it was reported that the Yankees were open to trading Nova, hoping to get young, talented pitchers with more years of team control - Nova will be an unrestricted free agent after '16. The organization is hoping that his impending free agency will spur on some added motivation to have a good season. King also adds that Nova is expendable with starters Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, CC Sabathia, Adam Warren and Bryan Mitchell in the mix. The Winter Meetings get underway on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.

The Yankees push to deal Ivan Nova is about to pick up and the White Sox are at front of line https://t.co/Y3yXsRoaDL — New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) December 4, 2015