Ex-Yankees All-Star ecstatic after joining Padres: "I played with Fernando Tatis Jr. in DR, with Manny Machado in Orioles"

The San Diego Padres were one of the most active teams at the trade deadline. Experienced starting pitcher Nestor Cortes is one of the new faces at Petco Park.

Though he is still in his first few days at his new home, it appears settling in may not be too tough for Cortes after all, as he already has quite a lot of friends in the clubhouse.

Speaking to the press shortly after his arrival in San Diego on Sunday, Nestor Cortes discussed how he has shared the clubhouse with numerous Padres players in the past, including Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Michael King, JP Sears, and Wandy Peralta.

"Oh my gosh, there's so many people here [that I've played with in the past]. [Michael] King, [JP] Sears, Wandy [Peralta]. I playd with Tatis in the DR, when we won the championship with Estrellas."

"I played with Manny [Machado] in the Orioles. If I see more names, I'm sure there's more people," Nestor Cortes said [3:10].

Nestor Cortes spent five seasons over three different stints with the New York Yankees, making the All-Star team once in 2022. He was traded to Milwaukee in December. He only made two appearances for the Brewers, going 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA.

San Diego Padres acquire Nelson Cortes to bolster rotation during busy trade deadline

Chasing their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers for top spot in the NL West, the San Diego Padres well and truly stated their intent at the trade deadline, bringing in a number of reinforcements before the trade deadline.

The players arriving at Petco Park include the likes of Mason Miller, JP Sears, Ryan O'Hearn, Ramón Laureano, Freddy Fermin, Nestor Cortes, Jorge Quintana and Will Wagner.

Cortes and Quintana, who both came over from the Brewers, will look to strengthen the Padres' starting rotation behind ace Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease.

Cease has had a difficult 2025 thus far, going 4-10 with a 4.60 ERA. Meanwhile, Quintana was strong for Milwaukee, going 8-4 with a 3.50 ERA over 16 starts.

About the author

Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor's in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav's favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball's best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by Brad Taningco