The Yankees are agency deadline patrons, however they’ve additionally been discussing left-hander Nestor Cortes with different groups, stories Jon Heyman of the New York Submit. He provides an sudden identify to the beginning pitching market — presumably one for whom the Yankees would like so as to add large league expertise. (Heyman provides that the Yankees have some curiosity in Cardinals utilityman Tommy Edman however doesn’t go as far as to recommend the 2 sides have mentioned a Cortes-for-Edman swap.)
On the one hand, it’s at all times a bit stunning to see a win-now membership of this nature focus on an lively member of its rotation in trades. On the opposite, the Yankees went down the same path simply wo years in the past with one other left-hander, Jordan Montgomery, once they traded him to the Cardinals in alternate for middle fielder Harrison Bader.
On the time, Montgomery was a top quality fourth choice in a deep Yankees rotation however not one who was going to make the workforce’s postseason rotation. There’s comparable context right here. The Yankees may go along with a postseason rotation together with a mix of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, Luis Gil and/or a returning Clarke Schmidt. There’s additionally the likelihood that GM Brian Cashman provides a extra impactful arm to the group earlier than tomorrow’s deadline.
Cortes, 29, is within the midst of a usually strong season however has floundered of late. He’s pitched to a 4.13 ERA in 124 1/3 innings, putting out 22.5% of his opponents (proper on par with league common) and issuing walks at a tiny 5% clip alongside the way in which. Nonetheless, he’s run right into a tough patch of late, failing to finish 5 innings in every of his previous three begins and serving up a complete of 15 runs over the course of 13 2/3 innings throughout that mini-slump.
Like Montgomery in 2022, Cortes is inexpensive ($3.95MM wage) and managed for one extra yr. A brand new workforce would be capable to retain him for the 2025 season by way of arbitration. He’ll be owed a increase of some word however ought to nonetheless see his wage fall effectively shy of $10MM.
This hasn’t been Cortes’ finest season, however he’s solidified himself as a top quality large league starter — and brought a novel path to getting there. The Orioles chosen Cortes out of the Yankees’ system within the 2017 Rule 5 Draft however designated him for project that April and returned him to the Yankees. Simply 18 months later, Cortes was designated for project by the Yankees, this time getting traded to the Mariners for worldwide bonus allotments. Issues didn’t pan out in Seattle, and Cortes returned to the Yanks as a minor league free agent within the 2020-21 offseason.
Since returning to the Bronx, Cortes touts a 3.38 ERA in 439 innings. He’s entrenched himself into the New York rotation, however with their management over the lefty dwindling and a strong assortment of different choices on the massive league roster, flipping Cortes for some large league assist in the infield — be it Edman or any variety of different infield choices presently available on the market — or an outfielder who may push Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base extra recurrently may work to the Yankees’ profit.
All that stated, it’d be considerably stunning if the Yankees moved Cortes and didn’t backfill the rotation with a distinct addition. Cole has solely made seven begins after spending the primary two months of the season on the injured listing with an elbow difficulty. Gil appears to be like to have recovered from a tough patch he hit in June, however he’s as much as 107 1/3 innings after pitching solely 4 innings final yr whereas mending from Tommy John surgical procedure. Schmidt has been on the injured listing since late Might because of a lat pressure. Rodon, like Gil, hit a tough spot in June and has righted the ship of late — however his monitor file in New York is spotty, to place issues calmly. Stroman’s outcomes have been strong (3.64 ERA) however he’s sporting career-worst strikeout, stroll and ground-ball charges (resulting in a 5.22 FIP and 4.85 SIERA).
There’s some sense to transferring Cortes to handle wants in one other space — however provided that they’re additionally including a beginning pitcher who’d extra concretely slot right into a playoff rotation and make up the rest of Cortes’ innings for the steadiness of the common season. That’s a difficult tightrope to stroll, however it’s one the Yankees have navigated within the very current previous.
