Yankees-Brewers All-Star Trade Piece Gets Significant Update

The Milwaukee Brewers pulled off one of the biggest trades of the offseason ahead of the 2025 Major League Baseball season.

Milwaukee sent All-Star closer Devin Williams to the New York Yankees in exchange for Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin.

Durbin has seen a lot of time in the infield this year as a rookie, but Cortes hasn’t gotten into a lot of action. Cortes has made just two starts and he has dealt with left elbow flexor strain.

Although this is the case, Milwaukee got a significant update involving Cortes on Friday. It was shared by MLB.com's Adam McCalvy that he threw two simulated innings and is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Wednesday with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds.

"Brewers lefty Nestor Cortes threw two simulated innings today and expects to begin a rehab assignment on Wednesday in Nashville," McCalvy said.

Cortes was the Brewers' big left-handed addition of the offseason before eventually signing José Quintana. The lefty is a former All-Star but Milwaukee hasn't been able to see that yet. If he's going to be ready for a minor league assignment on Wednesday, that means that his eventual return isn't too far away. But, that will complicate the starting rotation even further. The Brewers recently moved Aaron Civale to the bullpen before trading him to make room in the rotation for Jacob Misiorowski.

The rotation is seemingly full right now with Freddy Peralta, Misiorowski, Chad Patrick, Quinn Priester, and Quintana. Plus, Brandon Woodruff is almost back as well. So, what could that mean for Cortes?