SAN DIEGO -- Nestor Cortes had his bags packed and ready in the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse on Thursday afternoon, five minutes from taking the team bus to the airport for their upcoming road trip when he found out he had a new destination. He had been traded to the San Diego Padres.
"It's been a little crazy, I was in Milwaukee and flew in last night," said Cortes on Sunday morning. "But as soon as I got traded, a bunch of people reached out and made me feel like I was really welcomed here. And walking into the clubhouse today, obviously a lot of guys came up to me and presented me to all these places that we have here. It's amazing for me now. Just happy to be here, happy for the opportunity."
The left-handed Cortes will now join a rotation that features Nick Pivetta, Yu Darvish, Dylan Cease and JP Sears. Michael King could return in the next two weeks and Randy Vasquez was optioned to Triple A to open up a spot for Cortes.
"I was a little surprised. Even though I felt if there was a chance to get out of Milwaukee, it was going to be to a contender and I'm just happy to be here and happy to compete. I want to get the ball every five days hopefully and be able to give the best that I can."
Cortes hasn't pitched since April 3rd and was placed on the injured list by the Brewers with a left elbow flexor strain. But he declared himself fully recovered and ready to take the ball every five days.
"Rehab was going well, getting better between each start because I feel like I'm recuperating better too. That was the biggest problem. It wasn't the pitch day one, pitch day five. It was the in-between that was hard for me and I feel like that's gotten a lot better."
As excited as Cortes was from the prospect of joining Yu Darvish in the rotation, he was equally amped by the depth of the Padres bullpen which just added All-Star reliever Mason Miller from the A's.
"It's incredible, I was joking with my friends last night from back home. It's like all you've got to do is get to the fifth inning and possibly the fourth and then just turn it over. What the team has done at the deadline has been incredible. Really aggressive and like I said, happy to be part of this team and happy to hopefully just be a stepping stone to get to the playoffs and hopefully win it all."
Notable- Randy Vásquez (3-5, 3.93 ERA), who took the loss Saturday night versus the Cardinals, was optioned to Triple A El Paso....Michael King is making his first rehab start for El Paso...Luís Arráez has a career-high15-game hitting streak.
Quotable- "Especially with the addition of the new guys, I want to be a part of this really bad."- Joe Musgrove on throwing his first bullpen session and why he's more antsy to return than ever.
