Latest Nestor Cortes workout video has reality setting in for Yankees fans

Gone are the days of Yankees fans parsing through Nestor Cortes Jr.'s offseason workout videos, desperately crossing their fingers that his shoulder would hold up for the duration of the upcoming season.

Also gone are the days of Yankees fans watching Cortes' offseason with rapt attention, trying to figure out if there was any significance to him being invited to watch Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by Aaron Judge's side (turns out there was, but why was Mike Tauchman there?).

Now, Cortes Jr. is a Brewer, officially spending his final year before free agency in Milwaukee in exchange for Devin Williams. While it's highly likely that infielder Caleb Durbin will represent the most missed on-field presence in 2025, Cortes was an integral piece of the clubhouse who gave everything he had to make it back for the 2024 World Series alongside his brothers.

Before his final forgettable pitch in a Yankees uniform, Cortes was said to have no issue risking the structural integrity of his elbow to rush back. As he put it, “If I have a ring, and then a year off from baseball, so be it.” Unfortunately, that ring remains on layaway, though he did all he could to help secure it.

That "year away from baseball"? Luckily, that doesn't appear to have materialized, either. Cortes survived his physical with his UCL intact as his trade to the Brewers became official. Now, the left-hander has been spotted warming up in familiar fashion, rocking Milwaukee shorts in a workout video he posted Monday night.

Departed Yankees starter Nestor Cortes looks like a healthy Brewer in latest workout video

Every Yankee fan hopes that Cortes Jr. cashes in the way he deserves to after a (hopefully) healthy season in the NL Central. After the addition of Max Fried, the Yankees freed up the bottom half of their rotation for trade talks, dangling Luis Gil (maybe), Marcus Stroman and Cortes in the name of unexpected upgrades.

While a Kyle Tucker trade never materialized, Cortes was flipped for a blue chipper, while Stroman's name still lingers on the market.

Cortes' Yankees career, a story told in multiple parts, was an unequivocal success. Now, after seeing a familiar variety of video in a different golden-shorted hue, Yankee fans have to accept that the lefty's multi-era tenure in the Bronx, coated in some very recent blood, sweat and tears, has officially wrapped.