Stop me if you’ve heard this before: An ex-New York Yankees player is deciding to head to Asia for the 2022 season.
This time it’s right-hander Ivan Nova, according to MLB Trade Rumors and Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News.
The 34-year-old Nova reported agreed to a deal with the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization. He’s guaranteed $900,000 and could top out at $1 million with incentives.
Earlier this month, former Yankees outfielder Mike Tauchman took a $1-million deal to play for the Hanwha Eagles of the Korean Baseball Organization.
Also earlier this month, former Yankees right-hander Brooks Kriske signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
And don’t forget former Yankees first baseman Chris Gittens is heading to Japan after being released last month by the Yankees. Gittens reportedly will play for the Rakuten Golden Eagles — the same team that employs former Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka. MLB Trade Rumors (via Yahoo Japan) reported earlier this month Tanaka will stay with Rakuten for next season rather than exercise an out-clause in his contract.
As for Nova, the 11-year MLB veteran debuted with the Yankees in 2010. He made 131 appearances (118 starts) over seven seasons in the Bronx, going 53-39 with a 4.41 ERA. He won a career-best 16 games in 2011 and finished fourth in voting for the American League Rookie of the Year Award that year.
In 2016, the Yankees traded Nova to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nova later pitched for the Chicago White Sox (2019) and Detroit Tigers (2020).
According to MLB Trade Rumors, “while Nova signed a minor-league contract with the Rockies in April, he was released a few weeks later without seeing any game action.”
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Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com.