PHILADELPHIA — Former Yankees All-Star left-hander Nestor Cortes officially joined the Phillies organization on Wednesday after being sidelined for the entire season so far following a surgery in October. The 31-year-old threw for scouts in Florida earlier this week, then signed a major-league deal with Philadelphia. Cortes was optioned to Single-A Clearwater to give the
“Well,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said Friday at Citizens Bank Park, “we’ve got to see what we got, right?”
At this point, Cortes is a wild card. He was a rotation staple in New York from 2021 to 2024, but the soft-tossing, funky lefty dealt with injury issues at the end of his Yankees tenure and last year in Milwaukee and San Diego. He had a 6.29 ERA in eight starts with the Brewers and Padres in 2025 before undergoing surgery on his pitching arm.
Mattingly said Cortes has been throwing “extended bullpens” in his preparation to return to the field. He threw a live batting practice in Clearwater Friday. But since the Phillies will have to keep him in the minor leagues for at least 15 days (unless someone on the big-league roster gets hurt), the team will get a stretch of time to evaluate Cortes.
“You always want to get him in the organization and kind of get your hands on him,” Mattingly said, “see where he’s at with kind of everything.”
Mattingly noted that it would probably be difficult for Cortes to build to between 75 and 90 pitches with only six weeks left in the regular season, so it would be tough to imagine the Phillies planning to use him as a traditional starter. The club will aim more for him to be available for a “bulk role,” Mattingly said. Perhaps he could serve as a long man in the bullpen or occasional opener down the stretch. Cortes has been a reliever before, even if his most notable appearance resulted in a walk-off grand slam by the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman in the 2024 World Series.
Of course, Cortes will need to prove he’s healthy and capable of contributing in the minor leagues, which is not a guarantee, before he takes on any major-league role. But Philadelphia clearly had enough belief that there would be something left in the tank to sign him.
“He says he’s ready to roll,” Mattingly said. “So again, I don’t know where it’s going to go.”
