{"id":325318,"date":"2026-08-19T22:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325318\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T22:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:04:58","slug":"ex-yankees-star-nestor-cortes-jr-agrees-to-mlb-deal-with-phillies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325318\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Yankees star Nestor Cortes Jr. agrees to MLB deal with Phillies"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Yankees All-Star is getting closer to a big league return.<\/p>\n

Left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr., who has yet to pitch in 2026 after undergoing offseason surgery for a tendor tear in his throwing arm, agreed to a deal with the Phillies on Wednesday, The Post\u2019s Jon Heyman confirmed.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 31-year-old southpaw\u2019s new deal, first reported by Fansided<\/a>, is reportedly a major league contract.<\/p>\n

Cortes had posted a video to X<\/a> on Tuesday showing himself throwing for major league scouts.<\/p>\n

\"NewCortes spent parts of five MLB seasons with the Yankees. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

The well-traveled veteran posted a disappointing 6.29 ERA in 2025 \u2014 splitting the campaign between the Brewers and Padres \u2014 while missing time due to left biceps tendinitis.<\/p>\n

But the Hialeah, Florida, native has previously been an All-Star-caliber pitcher, primarily during his run with the Yankees (2019-2024).<\/p>\n

After two disappointing seasons in the organization, the Yankees re-signed Cortes to a minor league pact ahead of the 2021 campaign, and he cemented himself in the rotation.<\/p>\n

He posted a solid 2.90 ERA as a swingman for New York that same year, and followed it up with a 12-4 record and 2.44 ERA in 28 starts in 2022 to earn his first All-Star nod.<\/p>\n

Following an injury-riddled 2023, Cortes returned to make 30 starts for the Yankees before hitting the injured list weeks before the postseason.<\/p>\n

\"MilwaukeeThe Yankees traded Cortes to the Brewers after the 2024 season, but injuries and inconsistency limited him to eight starts last season. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

He returned for the World Series and, in Game 1, surrendered a crushing walk-off home run to Dodgers star Freddie Freeman<\/a> in his penultimate pinstripes appearance.<\/p>\n

Cortes, along with top prospect Caleb Durbin, was traded to the Brewers that offseason in exchange for closer Devin Williams.<\/p>\n

He will provide depth for a Phillies team that did not acquire a starting pitcher ahead of the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Given his long layoff from game action, Cortes is \u201cgoing to need a little time to get ready,\u201d per NBC Sports Philadelphia\u2019s Jim Salisbury.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Phillies (69-58) currently hold the NL\u2019s second wild card spot ahead of the Padres by 1.5 games. They trail the Cubs by 6.5 contests. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Yankees All-Star is getting closer to a big league return. Left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr., who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20,122511,9,11,10,321,5389,319],"class_list":["post-325318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-mlb","tag-nestor-cortes-jr","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}