CHICAGO — Nestor Cortes caught some flack from fans for his honest answer expressing frustration with being moved to the bullpen, but not from Aaron Boone.
The Yankees manager said he had no issues with Cortes’ comments on Saturday in which the left-hander admitted he was “upset” about the move while saying he felt like he had been the “workhorse” in the rotation. It came after Cortes mowed down the Cubs, in relief of Clarke Schmidt, with 4 ⅓ no-hit innings to finish off a 2-0 win at Wrigley Field.
“I don’t need everyone to be happy with everything,” Boone said Sunday morning before the series finale. “I want them wanting and expecting the best. It comes at a time when you gotta make difficult decisions and then it’s on all of us, on the players, to go out there and do your job and be a pro and that’s what we saw with Nestor [Saturday].
“Clearly he wants to be starting and certainly there’s a case for that and is now going back into the rotation. But we also saw a guy come out and excel in a low-scoring game and finish off a great day for us on the mound. So no, [I’m] totally OK with that.”
Within his comments on Saturday, Cortes also said, “You’re always going to get my best effort no matter if I’m happy or not,” and added that he would accept the bullpen role if that’s what ends up happening.
For now, the plan is to insert Cortes back into the rotation later this week – likely on Friday against the Red Sox in The Bronx – as the Yankees use a six-man rotation one turn through before trimming down to five. The crunch comes after Schmidt and Luis Gil both returned from the injured list this weekend.
Entering Saturday, Cortes had thrown the most innings of any Yankees starter (159) while pitching to a 4.08 ERA in 28 starts.
But he looked as sharp as he has all season on Saturday after entering from the bullpen, even coming in in the middle of an inning and stranding an inherited runner at third.
“I’m not surprised he excelled in that role, because I think he’s done that in the past,” Boone said. “Hopefully when we get down to the nitty gritty or we get into playoff scenarios where roles can expand, change, evolve as you go – I feel like he’s capable, whether it’s starting or coming in in a big situation, of getting big, important outs for us. So moving forward, he’s going to play a big role for us.”
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