What It Means:

Cortes endured a turbulent 2023 before ending his season early due to a lingering shoulder issue. The veteran lefty is participating in Yankees' Spring Training practices so far and is reportedly expecting to be able to throw 90 pitches by Opening Day. However, Cortes did speculate that the Yankees will space out his starts early in the year to ease him back up to a full workload.

Cortes pitched to an All-Star level over a career-high 158.1 innings in 2022, but struggled to a 4.95 ERA last year while dealing with his injuries, which limited him to just 63.1 total innings. As long as he makes it through Spring Training healthy, there should be optimism that Cortes can return to his 2022 form this season.