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The New York Yankees have been linked to rotation arms in the offseason, but one insider believes the team should trade a star left-hander.
MLB insider and analyst Tim Kelly of The Bleacher Report believes the Yankees will look to trade Nestor Cortes this offseason. The Yankees could move Cortes to fill some other holes.
“USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale reported that the Yankees nearly dealt Cortes “perhaps to St. Louis for infielder Tommy Edman” prior to the trade deadline,” Kelly wrote. “But elected to hold onto him when concerns about a back injury halted a deal that would have brought Jack Flaherty to New York…
“With Gerrit Cole still in the fold, Cortes may be the odd man out in a rotation that also includes Luis Gil, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman, and Clarke Schmidt. Cortes has one remaining year of arbitration eligibility before free agency, and given that he posted a 3.77 ERA across 174.1 innings pitched, there should be quite a few suitors,” Kelly added.
As Kelly writes, the Yankees have a surplus of starting pitchers, so moving Cortes to add a hitter or reliever could make sense.
Cortes is in the final year of arbitration. Last season, the left-hander went 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA in 31 games. In the playoffs, he pitched two innings but had a 9.00 ERA.
Cortes Predicted to Move in 1-For-1 Swap
Kelly isn’t the only MLB insider to expect the Yankees to trade Cortes.
Instead, The Athletic’s Chris Krichner expects New York to deal Cortes. In his article on November 18, he believes a one-for-one swap for Nico Hoerner of the Chicago Cubs makes sense.
“The Yankees need a second baseman with Gleyber Torres a free agent,” Krichner wrote. “The Chicago Cubs are looking for starting pitching. Could the teams orchestrate a one-for-one swap with the Yankees receiving infielder Nico Hoerner? Hoerner is owed $11.67 million next season, and Cortes is projected to earn $7.7 million in arbitration.
“Next year is Cortes’ final season before free agency; Hoerner has an additional season under contract before becoming a free agent after the 2026 season,” Krichner added. “Hoerner would give the Yankees much better defense and base running at second base than Torres provided.”
If the Yankees do trade Cortes, they would likely try and get an MLB player in return.
Yankees Re-Sign Cole
New York’s first move of the off-season was re-signing ace Cole.
Cole opted out of his deal, but the Yankees agreed to a four-year $144 million deal, which was the original deal that he opted out of.
After the move, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said sticking to the original deal was best for both sides.
“We wanted our player and our ace back. He certainly didn’t want to go either,” Cashman said at the GM Meetings. “We had a lot of healthy dialogue about trying to thread the needle and keep it in play. We could always talk further as we move forward about the future…
“All parties wanted to keep the relationship going,” Cashman added. “The pressure point was the time frame we were in and the window that we’re in, so we removed the time frame.”
Cole went 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA with the Yankees in 2024.