The Philadelphia Phillies’ starting rotation has been confounding this season. The three-headed monster of Zack Wheeler, Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez has been as good as advertised, but the back end of Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter has been a rollercoaster. Thankfully, both Nola and Painter have been ascendant in recent weeks, but there’s no guarantee that will continue through the rest of the season. The Phils added some insurance in Nestor Cortes Jr. and he looks to be getting closer to a big league return, just in time for a six-man rotation.
The Nestor Cortes Jr. that the Phillies signed a few weeks ago is not the All-Star he was back in 2022. The former New York Yankee posted a terrific 3.61 ERA across his five seasons in the Bronx, but injuries completely derailed his 2025 season and have kept him out of the majors for all of this year.
Luckily, the Phillies don’t need Cortes to pitch like the borderline ace he was years ago. They just need him to provide halfway-decent innings down the stretch. Wheeler, Luzardo, Sánchez and Nola are set to be the club’s four-man playoff rotation, and Painter has performed well enough in his return to the big leagues to warrant a regular rotation spot through the end of September.
However, just because all five hurlers aren’t going anywhere, that doesn’t mean another pitcher can’t help them out. Cortes could step in to form a six-man rotation for the last few weeks of the regular season, affording the other five some well-deserved extra rest.
Cortes certainly isn’t built up enough to go deep into contests. In fact, he just made his long-awaited return to game action on Tuesday. With minor league seasons winding down, the runway just isn’t there to get him back to the point where he could take down six or seven innings in a start. Still, the opportunity remains to piggyback him with a multi-inning reliever to provide the bulk of the innings in a given game.
Such an arrangement would have multiple benefits to the Phillies. First and foremost, the existing group of starters would get a breather. Wheeler, Sánchez, Luzardo and Nola could certainly use a break before a (hopefully) deep playoff run, while Painter could still be a weapon out of the bullpen in October even if he’s not being called upon to start.
Adding Nestor Cortes Jr. would give Phillies a breather, bullpen sneak peak
Secondly, Cortes himself would get an opportunity to audition for a spot on the postseason roster. There’s no chance he’d get a start in a playoff matchup, but a funky left-hander with a track record of success could be an interesting addition to a bullpen that has been leaking oil.
The Phils currently employ journeyman Tim Mayza, trade deadline acquisition Brooks Raley and dumpsterfire José Alvarado as their southpaw relief contingent. To call that group uninspiring would be putting it mildly. Mayza and Raley have performed well enough, but both are more suited to lower-leverage work. Alvarado’s days as an electric late-inning option are far behind him, and he simply cannot be trusted with the season on the line.
Cortes, for his part, has 49 games’ worth of experience as a reliever, and has pitched in a World Series before (admittedly, that didn’t go very well). If the Phillies’ season comes down to Nestor Cortes Jr., something has gone seriously wrong. Still, he could be a playoff X-factor, and for a team that has grown stale following multiple postseason meltdowns, that’s not a bad thing to have.
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