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Opening Day is here, and the Baltimore Orioles are ready to have a bounce-back season after last year’s disastrous one. They overhauled their roster, but they didn’t really get a star pitcher to upgrade their rotation, and went for middle-of-the-road guys.
With that in mind, FanSided’s Austin Owens predicts they will get one more by signing All-Star and former Cy Young candidate, Nestor Cortes, who has the ability to be a star if he has a comeback season.
“A former MLB all-star who is just 31 years old does not sound like someone who would be job searching at the end of March. This is the exact situation left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes has found himself in. Cortes spent time with both the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres last season and only recorded 26 innings of work. With Cortes' young age and big gap between big league experience, he has the makings of someone who could make a major comeback…The Orioles are rolling with a starting staff that one could argue lacks a true ace but is loaded with starters who have proven they have the ability to keep their teams in ball games. As talented as the Baltimore offense is, this is really all they can ask for out of their starters. Taking a chance on Nestor Cortes makes sense for the O's,” Owens wrote.
Cortes’ last fully healthy season was in 2024, where he posted a 9-10 record, a 3.77 ERA, 162 Ks, and a WHIP of 1.153 over 174 innings pitched. If he can pitch to at least those numbers and a bit better record, he’d make a fine end-of-rotation pitcher.
Cortes’ market value projects a three-year, $36 million deal, and for a team like the O’s, that’s a perfect contract. If they can stick on a club option for the third year, all the better.
Hopefully, the O’s realize this would be a smart move, and get to work on getting Cortes on their roster ASAP by the time they would need his slot to start.
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