The New York Yankees have placed All-Star lefty Nestor Cortes on the injured list with a strained groin, per Lindsey Adler of The Athletic.
Yankees starter Nestor Cortes is expected to go on the IL with a groin strain, sources tell The Athletic. Reliever Greg Weissert will be called up to join the team in Oakland. https://t.co/mptVpUuiFE
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) August 25, 2022
Cortes was one of the Yankees’ surprises of the year as he continued his breakout following last year. He is 9-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 23 starts and had recently rebounded after running into some fatigue issues. In a corresponding move, the Yankees called up reliever Greg Weissert, who has a 1.76 ERA and 13.1 K/9 at Triple-A Scranton.
Joel Sherman of the Post added that Cortes is not expected to be out long and should return for the stretch run in September. In the meantime, Clarke Schmidt is likely to take Cortes’ turn in the rotation.
This means that on the whole, the Yankees shouldn’t worry about losing Nestor Cortes. If this is even an injury at all, we had to figure the Yankees would try to cap his innings at some point. He’s already at a career-high 131 frames.
More importantly, it’s time to see just what Clarke Schmidt’s future with the Yankees holds. There’s going to be at least one opening in the starting rotation next year and he can easily fill it. Schmidt is 5-2 with a 2.18 ERA in 17 MLB appearances this year. He also owns a 3.55 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in eight starts at Scranton.
If he performs well in Nasty Nestor’s absence, he might have a job for next year. If not, he’s either bullpen-bound or traded. Plus, Luis Severino will be back soon and help offset losing Nestor Cortes even more.
Thus, the Yankees’ pitching staff is in pretty good shape as they head out on a 10-game road trip. Schmidt should see his first turn in the rotation during the four-game weekend tilt with the Oakland A’s.
