Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes has a flexor strain in his pitching elbow and was placed on the 15-day injured list on Wednesday, which is a significant loss for New York as they prepare for the playoffs.
Cortes and the Yankees are hoping he might return during the postseason, but it seems unlikely. “I don’t know if optimistic. I mean, we’re not ruling it out yet,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Cortes was taken out of his scheduled start against Baltimore and replaced by Marcus Stroman, as the Yankees were just one win away from securing the AL East title and a first-round playoff bye.
Stroman (10-9) lost the game, giving up six runs and a season-high 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings. He had recently been moved to the bullpen for the last two weeks of the season since the Yankees had six healthy starters before Cortes’ injury.
“He’s been great through all of this,” Boone said before the game. “He’s been ready for whatever role comes his way. He’s had a really good year for us, and a big reason why we’re in this position.”
Cortes (9-10, 3.77 ERA) had an MRI on Monday and was placed on the IL retroactively to Sunday.
He won’t be able to throw for at least seven to ten days and will seek advice from two well-known specialists by sending the MRI results to Dr. Neal ElAttrache and Dr. Keith Meister.
“I’ve been dealing with some tenderness for a few weeks. But it wasn’t until Sunday, I threw my bullpen in Oakland, where it didn’t feel right,” Cortes said.
“The ligament looks good. Obviously, there’s like chronic stuff that’s, throughout the year, if you do an MRI to any pitcher, stuff is going to pop up. But (the) UCL is not torn, or there’s no damage to it. So that’s kind of good news.”
“I don’t know what the timetable looks like,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s 10 days or 40 days, but I know with rest people get better, and hopefully with treatments that I get, it’s going to feel better.”
Cortes was expected to be New York’s third starter in the postseason, following Gerrit Cole (7-5, 3.67) and Carlos Rodón (16-9, 3.98).
“Certainly feel for him right now,” Boone said. “Just have to pick up the slack there and support him right now and then see what we have over the next several days, just see exactly how he’s responding and things like that.”
Cortes was 4-0 with a 1.58 ERA in his last seven games (six starts), striking out 38 and walking 10 in 40 innings.
“That’s one of the things that stinks about this, too, is just how well he’s throwing the baseball right now,” Boone said.
With at least a wild-card spot already secured, the Yankees need just one win in their last four games to clinch the division title. If they achieve that, they would start a best-of-five Division Series at home on Oct. 5.
Stroman, rookie Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt are the remaining options to start a possible Game 3. Since there are off days between Games 1 and 2, and again between Games 2 and 3, the Yankees would likely only need three starters for that series.
“Definitely the mentality and the way I’m going to go about it is try and come back,” Cortes said. “Depending on how far we go and how well I do with the rehab. Obviously, my main focus is to be able to come back and help this team.”
New York recalled Cody Poteet from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and he had a strong outing in relief on Wednesday night, allowing just one run and three hits in 3 1/3 innings while throwing 57 pitches.
