The New York Yankees made a splash when they signed Max Fried to a long-term deal. Signing Fried signaled that the Yankees plan to build a World Series roster for 2025, but there are more ways than one for them to accomplish that.
The Yankees have plenty of money to spend and players to trade, making it likely they’ll have a different looking team next season in some capacity. Among the players they could look to trade include Nestor Cortes, who Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report named their “most likely player to be traded.”
“With Gerrit Cole still in the fold, Cortes may be the odd man out in a rotation that also includes Luis Gil, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman and Clarke Schmidt. Cortes has one remaining year of arbitration eligibility before free agency, and given that he posted a 3.77 ERA across 174.1 innings pitched, there should be quite a few suitors,” Kelly wrote on November 18.
Yankees Predicted to Trade Cortes
The New York Yankees need to replace a few players, both in the lineup and bullpen. Moving Cortes likely wouldn’t help them land a star, but he could be an added piece in a bigger trade.
After signing Fried, there doesn’t seem to be much room for Cortes in the Yankees rotation. Luis Gil has been a name on the trade market during the Winter Meetings. If the Yankees were to make a blockbuster move involving Gil, even then, moving Cortes could still be possible.
Chris Landers of FanSided believes he won’t be back in 2025, predicting the Yankees would cut ties with him.
“You can never have too much starting pitching depth, but … something has to give here, right? The Yankees currently have Cole, Fried, Rodon, Gil, Cortes and Schmidt at the Major League level, plus other young pitchers waiting in the wings. Someone has to go, and the best guess here is Cortes, last seen giving up that iconic walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman in Game 1 of the World Series.
“To be fair to Cortes, he was actually solid when healthy for New York last year, although a late elbow injury scuttled things. The 30-year-old pitched to a 109 ERA+ overall, with 162 strikeouts in 174.1 innings, and he profiles as a perfectly acceptable fourth starter somewhere. That’s unlikely to be New York given the team’s other commitments, but he could be dealt as part of a package to acquire an infield or outfield piece moving forward,” Landers wrote on December 10.
Why the Yankees Should Trade Cortes
Cortes hasn’t been the same type of pitcher he was earlier in his New York Yankees career move over the past two seasons. In his defense, the left-hander dealt with an arm injury for parts of the past campaign, but that doesn’t ignore his stuff playing at the level it used to.
Cortes seems to have been impacted heavily by the pitch clock, as he’s a pitcher who attempts to mess with hitters’ timing.
If he’s healthy and can get that under control, he could be a decent option for a different team. For the Yankees, however, moving him now in a deal for an upgrade elsewhere seems to be the better plan.
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