It’s been a rough past five weeks for Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes.
Prior to last month, the 2022 All-Star appeared to have rediscovered his old form after a lost 2023. He started the season with a 3.40 ERA through 17 starts as the Yankees rolled in April and May. Since then, however, it’s been a disaster. Since June 29, he has a 7.49 ERA, and since July 11, he has given up more runs (24) than any pitcher in baseball.
The Yankees tried to trade him at the deadline, but plans changed after their deal for Jack Flaherty fell through. Now, Cortes is the Yankee most likely to be traded in the offseason, according to Bleacher Report’s Zachary Rymer.
Rymer published a story on Thursday, August 8, in which he listed one player from every MLB team who is most likely to be traded in the offseason. If the Yankees instead hold onto Cortes for 2025, he says, the lefty may be on the outside looking in on the team’s rotation plans.
“With Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt all slated to return in 2025, the Yankees will have an excuse to view Cortes as the odd man out this winter,” he wrote.
The Yankees Planned to Trade Nestor Cortes in July
As the Yankees stumbled through July, trade deadline needs popped up everywhere on the roster. There was an especially glaring need to bolster the starting rotation as the pitchers who were so strong in the first two months cratered.
That was where Jack Flaherty was supposed to come in.
“As reported by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Yankees were planning on trading Cortes upon acquiring Jack Flaherty at the deadline,” Rymer explained. “Which, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, nearly happened before Flaherty’s medicals scared the Yankees away.”
Flaherty missed time earlier in the season with a back issue, but the now-Los Angeles Dodger says he’s pain free.
“All I know is I feel great,” Flaherty told ESPN the day after the. deadline. “I’ve felt great since we got back from the break or even right before that…I’ve been pretty anxious about just wanting to get out there again.”
Regardless, the Yankees didn’t want to be burned again by another starting pitcher deadline deal, a la Frankie Montas a couple years back. So they held onto Cortes, hoping he could get back on track.
Instead, Cortes now leads the major leagues in hits allowed (136) after giving up nine over 4.2 innings in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night. That included three doubles and a homer.
With Schmidt working his way back, Cortes’ spot in the rotation may be in danger. Stroman has been just as bad as Cortes over the past month-plus, but Stroman isn’t making $18 million to be a middle reliever.
Aaron Boone: ‘He Couldn’t Finish Guys Off’
Yankees manager Aaron Boone isn’t one to blast his players publicly, and he used his time postgame on Thursday to defend Cortes, who he think has taken steps forward despite the lackluster results.
“Tonight wasn’t our night,” Boone said, per MLB.com’s Bill Ladson. “I actually thought Nestor threw the ball OK. He wasn’t giving up a lot of hard contact, but he had a hard time putting guys away. [The Angels] were spoiling pitches. [Cortes] would get two strikes, and he couldn’t finish guys off.”
The numbers somewhat back that up. The Angels had a hard-hit rate of 36.8%, the lowest of any opponent in Cortes’ last four starts. Batted balls also had an exit velocity of 88.1 mph, the weakest contact he has induced since mid-June.
It’s not much of a consolation given the results. The good news for Cortes is that his next start should come in Chicago next week against the White Sox. If ever there was a time to get back on track, doing so against a historically bad team may be the way to go.
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Yankees’ Former All-Star Pitcher Named ‘Most Likely To Be Traded’