The Yankees’ starting pitcher Nestor Cortes only threw them two-plus innings on Sunday. Manager Aaron Boone removed him out of ALCS Game 4 for an unremitting groin problem.
But the things that happened and led to Cortes’ exit from the game have put Aaron Boone under a lot of criticism. It was clear that Cortes was not at his best. The starting pitcher threw only four three-ball counts during his stay on the mound, and every Astros batter he faced seemed to be met with a “bend but don’t break” attitude.
After walking the first batter of the third inning for the second time in a row, Aaron Boone and one of his training staff reached out to him on the mound. Cortes escorted Jose Altuve after assuring them that he was alright (the sixth three-ball count of the game). The straw that broke the camel’s back was No. 7.
He fell down 3-1 to Jeremy Pea, who homered to erase the Yankees’ 3-0 lead and restart the game.
When Aaron Boone and the trainer went back to the mound, Cortes was already out, so Wandy Peralta had all the time he needed to get ready to take his place.
During the game, Aaron Boone disclosed to TBS’s Lauren Shehadi that Cortes suffered a groin injury. For most of the postseason, the injury continued to cause problems for the starting pitcher.
Cortes’s speed was going down. His four-seam fastball was 1.6 mph slower, his cutter was 1.
9 mph slower, and his slider was 3.1 mph slower. This was another red flag.
After the game, a 6-5 season-ending defeat, Aaron Boone was faced with his choice to leave Cortes in the game after visiting before the Altuve walk.
“We’re so up against it there like, if we’re going out with the trainer we feel like he’s sound . . . no, I’m not going to just pull him out of the game because he isn’t perfect,” Boone told, “So once we felt like he was sound, obviously the homer and . . . we don’t just automatically pull guys in the second or third inning when we feel like they’re sound.”
Cortes said after the game that he was hurt. He told reporters,
“There were no workouts here on days off. I didn’t give it much thought.
I competed and pitched through it, so I don’t think it was enough to set me apart or IL me.”
When asked if he could have stayed on the roster if the Yankees had come back to win the ALCS (a replacement would have kept Cortes from playing in any more playoff games), Cortes said he was getting more tests.
“I’m not sure. I’m getting an MRI done tomorrow, “he said. “We’ll have to check to see what it looked like, but… yeah, that’s all I’ve got.”
Cortes told reporters what he told Aaron Boone about the mound visit.
“[Boone] asked me how I felt,” Cortes said. “And I told him I feel well enough to compete. I feel great. He knows I’m a competitor, he knows that it’s going to be hard to take me off the mound. And I think I showed all year that I’ve gained that respect from him to leave me out there and grind through it. . . . My Velo dropped and my command wasn’t there and he made that decision.”
Aaron Boone will have to answer whether he made his choice too late. After going to see Cortes once and seeing that there was no one warming up in the bullpen, he may have put a little too much pressure on Cortes’ arm. It may not have been the reason the Yankees lost the series in the end. But this decision may raise even more questions about Aaron Boone’s future during an offseason that was already going to be full of them.
Was it a big mistake on the part of Aaron Boone? What do you think?
