Padres Could Get Trade Deadline Addition Back Before End of Season

Sep 3, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Nestor Cortes (65) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images | David Frerker-Imagn Images

The San Diego Padres had a whirlwind of a trade deadline.

The pièce de résistance of president of baseball operations A.J. Preller's career brought in tons of new talent, and as the Friars sit just two games back in the NL West divisional race and are firmly seated in an NL Wild Card spot, a key southpaw acquired at the end of July may be close to a return.

Nestor Cortes is remembered by the baseball world for all the wrong reasons (throwing the final ball in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series), but after making his way to San Diego, he has shown signs of renewing his MLB career.

Cortes had a 3.00 ERA through his first four starts with the Padres — including a one-hit outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers through six — but after his last two starts went awry, he found himself on the injured list with left biceps tendinitis during the first week of September.

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Manager Mike Shildt recently reported that Cortes is now feeling good enough to pitch once again and making good progress.

“We’re evaluating that,” Shildt said. “We haven’t sat down with Nestor yet. But he feels good enough to get on the mound and throw some pitches. How he responds will determine whether he goes with us on the trip or whether he goes to Arizona and starts to face some hitters.

“All those things are still in the mix. We’ve done everything we can to this point to make sure we’re keeping our guys healthy and fresh. But we are at that point of the season where our principal guys need to go pitch. There could be a few days at the end of the regular season where they don’t.”

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Cortes has only made eight appearances this season between both the Milwaukee Brewers and Padres due to nagging injuries. Because of last October's moment, many forget the production that Cortes can provide when healthy.

During his 31 outings in 2024, Cortes tossed a 3.77 ERA across a career-high 174.1 innings of work. He added 162 strikeouts to just 39 walks during that often forgotten regular season.

Two years prior in the 2022 campaign, Cortes was an All-Star-caliber hurler, delivering a career-low 2.44 ERA across 28 starts. His 163 strikeouts to 38 walks over 158.1 innings of work earned him an eighth-place Cy Young award finish that year as well.

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