It was reported yesterday, first by Fansided’s Robert Murray, that the Phillies had agreed to terms on a major league contract with former Padres and Yankees starter Nestor Cortes. The 31-year-old lefty has not appeared in a major league game since September 3rd of 2025, as he underwent offseason surgery to repair a biceps tear in his throwing arm that has kept him out of action since. He had recently thrown for a handful of interested teams ahead of his reported signing with the Phillies.
Cortes appeared in only eight games last season, as he dealt with a flexor strain before suffering the biceps injury that ended his season. He made two starts with the Brewers and six with the Padres and pitched to a 6.29 ERA in 34.1 innings. Cortes’ last full season in 2024 was a productive one, as he made 30 starts with the Yankees and logged a 3.77 ERA across 174,1 innings before being traded in the offseason to Milwaukee as part of the deal that sent Devin Williams to New York. His best season came in 2022 when Cortes was named an All-Star and finished eighth in AL Cy Young balloting after going 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA. Multiple injuries and poor performance led to him falling out of favor with the Yankees soon after, leading to the trade that sent Cortes to the Brewers.
Cortes has been a good starter in the past despite averaging just around 92 MPH on his fastball in his career. The crafty lefty has relied on command and deception to get hitters out over the years, often primarily utilizing a fastball/cutter mix while mixing in a changeup and a sweeper.
Perhaps not much can be gleamed from Cortes’ abbreviated, injury riddled 2025, but what can be seen is not encouraging. His already light velocity dropped even further, with his fastball averaging just 90 MPH. Cortes was also hit hard, as he allowed 13 home runs in just 34.1 innings. That comes out to 3.4 HR/9 and a home run/fly ball rate of 24.5%. For comparison, Aaron Nola leads the majors with 30 home runs allowed this season. Nola’s HR/9 of 2.1 and HR/fly ball rate of 19.2% are both lower than what Cortes showed in his short time pitching in 2025.
It stands to reason that the Phillies have plans for Cortes to join their active roster soon, as the major league deal obviously points to. The major question will be in what capacity do they view Cortes? Is he going to join the rotation as the Phillies possibly deploy six starters to try and get their big three more rest down the stretch? Or is Cortes going to take the spot of Andrew Painter as the latter heads back to Lehigh Valley in the waning weeks of the Triple-A season to continue trying to make adjustments? Regardless, the Phillies were in desperate need of some sort of starting pitching depth, and they are hoping that Cortes can at least provide just that.
So, what do you make of the Phillies’ signing of Nestor Cortes?
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