Phillies Announce Brutal News on All-Star Addition

Nestor Cortes’ latest attempt to restart his career hit a familiar snag this week. Just seven days after the Philadelphia Phillies signed the former New York Yankees All-Star to a major-league contract and sent him to Low-A Clearwater to build up his arm, the left-hander was placed on the seven-day injured list with an undisclosed issue.

He never threw a pitch in a game for the Threshers.

The timing could hardly be worse for a pitcher who has spent most of the past two seasons fighting his body. Cortes last appeared in the majors on September 3, 2025, with the San Diego Padres.

A flexor strain limited him to two starts with Milwaukee earlier that year, and biceps tendinitis ended his season after six more outings in San Diego. He finished 2025 with a 6.29 ERA in eight starts. Surgery in October to repair a torn biceps tendon in his throwing arm kept him unsigned through the first half of 2026.

When he finally threw for scouts this month, several clubs showed interest. Philadelphia, looking for rotation and bullpen depth behind Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo, won out with a split deal that pays him a prorated $1.5 million in the majors and $250,000 in the minors.

Cortes, 31, was never supposed to be a finished product the moment he signed. Manager Don Mattingly said the plan was a gradual ramp-up, first in extended bullpens and then in games, with the hope he could eventually give the club innings as a starter or a multi-inning reliever. That plan is now on hold.

Reports have not specified whether the new injury is connected to last year’s biceps procedure, only that the club felt it necessary to shut him down immediately.

Fans who had already begun wondering if the signing would produce anything before October quickly noted the obvious: a pitcher who has not faced big-league hitters in nearly a year is now even further from contributing.

The résumé still explains why Philadelphia took the chance. Drafted by the Yankees in the 36th round in 2013, Cortes carved out an eight-year major-league career with Baltimore, New York, Milwaukee, San Diego and Seattle.

His peak came in 2022, when he made the All-Star team and posted a 2.44 ERA. Career numbers remain respectable: 35-25 with a 3.94 ERA across 143 games and 94 starts. Those numbers, however, belong to a different version of the pitcher. The last two seasons have been defined by missed time and declining stuff.

For a Phillies team still chasing the Braves in the NL East, the signing was always a low-cost lottery ticket rather than a finished solution.

That ticket just became even cheaper, and even less likely to pay off this season. Cortes will have to get healthy again, then prove he can still command the strike zone after a long layoff. Until then, Philadelphia’s search for reliable innings behind its top three starters continues without him.