Rule 5 Target - Nestor Cortes - LHP

[weams]

https://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/8/19/16173110/the-mysterious-success-yankees-lhp-prospect-nestor-cortes-continues-in-2017

Quote

Cortes’ arsenal was crazy to watch. He works the mound from the middle and doesn’t have much at all to his delivery. He probably could use a little more arm, but he works the strike zone pretty consistently. He works quick, and attacks , and even his balls don’t miss by much. He needed just 58 pitches to get through four innings, landing 37 for strikes

 

 

[Luke-OH]

 

For what it’s worth, twitter seems to be full of people having really nice things to say about both Mesa and Cortes.

[weams]

5 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

Mesa is more of a power arm I gather? Would either be ahead of any of our young arms in minors?

You would say that they are currently the next two up. Other than maybe Tanner Scott. That said, They may go back. 

[Luke-OH]

3 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

Mesa is more of a power arm I gather? Would either be ahead of any of our young arms in minors?

Mesa throws low to mid 90s with an easy delivery, he has more traditional prospect stuff than Cortes (who is a junkballer who lives off command and deception).

I'd have Mesa slightly ahead of Lucas Long, so around the 18-20 range, Cortes would rank similar to Ynoa so low 20's, Araujo would be off the top 30 or off the very back.  So Mesa and Cortes are ahead of Hess, Means, Yefry Ramirez, Lee, Aquino, and Lee.  Since I haven't posted my top 30 yet, I'll adjust it to reflect these additions before posting it.

[sportsfan8703]

I gotta think that Cortes has some "Chris Waters" magic in him for 10-15 starts this year.  Well at least until the scouting report gets out on him. 

[weams]

https://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/second-straight-year-yankees-get-raided-rule-5/?utm_content=buffere1fc7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#uj2b25Thp5sl7Geh.97

[wildcard]

6 minutes ago, weams said:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/second-straight-year-yankees-get-raided-rule-5/?utm_content=buffere1fc7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#uj2b25Thp5sl7Geh.97

Well that is not encouraging.  Cortes reminds them of Vidal Nuno.     The guy the could not stay on the O's roster last year.

[Luke-OH]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Well that is not encouraging.  Cortes reminds them of Vidal Nuno.     The guy the could not stay on the O's roster last year.

He’s not Nuno, he’s just a soft tossing lefty with a similar repitoire and similar frame.  The comp screams at you, it pretty obvious.  At the same time Cortes does weird things on the mound very different than Nuno.

They aren’t really comparable in results either, at 22 years old, Nuno was in low A ball. Cortes was dominating AAA.  If you read my write up, I go into detail as to why he pitches better than you’d expect with his stuff.

 

[mdbdotcom]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Well that is not encouraging.  Cortes reminds them of Vidal Nuno.     The guy the could not stay on the O's roster last year.

Yes, but O's pitching was better last season than it looks like it will be in the coming season, so he has a chance.  

[bobmc]

2 hours ago, weams said:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/second-straight-year-yankees-get-raided-rule-5/?utm_content=buffere1fc7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#uj2b25Thp5sl7Geh.97

Either schadenfreude or dismay (since the dang Yanks have it all!).  Gotta hide out in the weeds and blind side 'em.

[SteveA]

“You know, the teams, some of the major market teams, the teams that are active on the international market, they’ve done a good job--like the Yankees, and they had several pitchers drafted. So that’s really the way the system is set up to work,” Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said. “There’s opportunity for players on other clubs, they get drafted to their major league roster. So we needed more pitching depth, picked up a couple of Yankee pitchers."

[SteveA]

Just now, SteveA said:

“You know, the teams, some of the major market teams, the teams that are active on the international market, they’ve done a good job--like the Yankees, and they had several pitchers drafted. So that’s really the way the system is set up to work,” Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said. “There’s opportunity for players on other clubs, they get drafted to their major league roster. So we needed more pitching depth, picked up a couple of Yankee pitchers."

I guess he is implying that only big market teams can dabble in the international market.

But what is the cap set on international spending at?  What fraction is it of what we will be paying 53 year old Chris Davis in 2037?

[24fps]

20 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I guess he is implying that only big market teams can dabble in the international market.

But what is the cap set on international spending at?  What fraction is it of what we will be paying 53 year old Chris Davis in 2037?

I think he's implying his handcuffs chafe a little bit.

[Luke-OH]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

I guess he is implying that only big market teams can dabble in the international market.

But what is the cap set on international spending at?  What fraction is it of what we will be paying 53 year old Chris Davis in 2037?

The Orioles had a bigger international bonus pool than the Yankees, so actually the Orioles have the advantage in the international market if they choose to participate. They started with 5.75 million and the Yankees had 4.75 million.

47 minutes ago, 24fps said:

I think he's implying his handcuffs chafe a little bit.

Exactly, he hates not being able to participate they way he’d like to.  DD is generally very close to the vest with stuff but I bet we hear more after he’s out the door.

 

[Frobby]

Interview with Cortes from minicamp here: http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2018/01/more-on-cortes-bleier-and-givens-on-britton-amateur-signing.html