Nestor Cortes arrives, Randy Vásquez optioned as Padres shuffle starting pitchers

Nestor Cortes arrived in San Diego on Saturday night and was in the Padres clubhouse Sunday morning.

“It’s a maze for me now,” he said.

The surroundings were not entirely unfamiliar.

The Thursday trade that brought him from the Brewers is reuniting Cortes with former Yankees teammates Michael King, Wandy Peralta and JP Sears and childhood friend Manny Machado, who he played with briefly in Baltimore. He also played with Fernando Tatis Jr. in the Dominican Republic in 2019 when their Estrellas team won the championship.

“There’s so many people here,” he said. “… So it hasn’t been a super change for me. Obviously, there’s a lot of guys with big names like Yu (Darvish). When I saw him, I was a little impressed. But hopefully I just fit right in seamlessly and take care of business.”

To make room for Cortes on the active roster, the Padres optioned Randy Vásquez  to Triple-A.

The Padres have not announced their rotation for the three-game series in Arizona that begins Monday.

It is expected that JP Sears starts Monday, Yu Darvish on Tuesday and Cortes on Wednesday.

Cortes, who was an All-Star with the Yankees in 2022, has not pitched in the major leagues since the first week of April due to an elbow flexor strain. The 30-year-old left-hander made four rehab starts in the minor leagues, throwing 93 pitches in 5⅔ innings in his final one on July 24.