The Yankees are prioritizing a starting pitcher, yet they have let teams know Ivan Nova is available.

Why?

Nova has just one season left until free agency and the Yankees are looking for starters who can help in 2016 and beyond. Thus, there are scenarios in which the Yankees could obtain a starter with several years of control and Nova could be sent back as part of the package to give the trading team a starter to plug into their rotation for 2016.

But the Yankees currently are not selling low on Nova. They are pitching that he will be stronger and healthier another year removed from his 2014 Tommy John surgery. They are saying he will be a motivated pitcher in his walk year. They see him as cost-efficient — about $4.5 million in his final year of arbitration — and in his prime — 29 in January.

At worst, the Yankees will keep him for depth and hope that he resembles the pitcher who from 2011 to 2013 was 37-18 with a 4.00 ERA while inducing ground balls 50.3 percent of the time and averaging seven strikeouts per nine innings and three walks.