New York Yankees fans collectively said goodbye to veteran lefty Nestor Cortes last winter, watching the mustachioed starter go to the Milwaukee Brewers in return for All-Star closer Devin Williams.
As it turns out, we may hear Cortes’ music at Yankee Stadium again very soon.
MLB insider Jon Heyman reported on Monday that the Brewers could trade Cortes, given their “starter surplus.” The Brewers and Cubs are tied for first entering their three-game set in Milwaukee this week.
Heyman also suggested the Yankees could bring Cortes back, barely seven months after the team shipped him to Milwaukee. The 31-year-old Cortes allowed eight runs, five home runs, and seven walks over his first eight innings before going on the injured list with a left flexor strain in April.
Cortes has made four rehab starts and is expected to return to the majors this week.
Should the Yankees try to trade for Nestor Cortes?
Cortes’ story is one of triumph and preservation, going from a 2013 36th-round pick to a 2022 All-Star. Although Cortes threw 66 2/3 innings for the Yankees in 2019, it wasn’t until 2021 that he rejoined the club and never left the big-league roster again. Cortes went 28-19 with a 3.33 ERA and a 495-122 K-BB ratio over 489 innings with the Yankees.
Contrary to popular belief, Cortes’ final pitch with the Yankees was not the Freddie Freeman grand slam. Instead, Cortes threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings in the Yankees’ Game 3 loss to the Dodgers.
Nestor Cortes, 6th K pic.twitter.com/JchhCXX85i
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 4, 2025
That context is important, if only because some Yankees fans might hesitate to bring Cortes back given how things ended. The sight of Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1, a moment that arguably sealed the Yankees’ World Series fate, will torment a portion of the fanbase for years to come.
However, the Yankees shouldn’t let that stop them from re-acquiring Cortes if given the chance. It’s rare in any sport that a team trades a starter for another key player, then winds up having both barely seven months later.
Cortes is months away from hitting free agency, and he’s only thrown eight innings all season, so he should come relatively cheap. At the same time, this likely isn’t an instance where the Yankees could get away with sending a player to be named later. Cortes will cost something, but it’ll be something the Yankees can manage.
Of course, this is assuming the Brewers make Cortes available. A team can never have too many starting pitchers, especially if the Brewers decide to limit phenom Jacob Misiorowski’s workload in the coming weeks.