Subscribe
Follow Us
The MLB hot stove was barely lit during the holiday season, but it should heat up relatively soon as spring training is just over six weeks away. There is still loads of talent available via free agency, but one name to keep watching in the trade market is Chicago White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease.
The expectation for much of the offseason is that the White Sox will move Cease, but the wheels haven’t turned on a deal. Plenty of suitors emerged at the beginning of the offseason but have died down in the last few weeks.
Cease is still “likely to move,” sources tell Jeff Passan, though he suggests the White Sox could wait until the trade deadline to build some of Cease's value.
Cease had a down year by his standards in 2023, posting a 7-9 record with a 4.58 ERA a year after finishing second in American League Cy Young Award voting. His strikeout numbers were still there with his 10.9 per nine innings, but his WHIP jumped up from 1.109 in 2022 to 1.418 in 2023 as he allowed 44 more hits in seven fewer innings.
Dylan Cease's trade market
The intriguing thing about Cease is that he has two years of club control left before he is set to hit free agency in 2025. That theoretically would net the White Sox more than the Milwaukee Brewers would for Corbin Burnes or the Cleveland Guardians for Shane Bieber.
Both Burnes and Bieber have one year of control left and despite the heavy trade rumors surrounding them earlier this winter, there hasn’t been much traction recently.
The White Sox are in no rush to move Cease and could opt to go Passan's route and keep him through the start of the 2024 season. Regardless if Chicago plans on being a contender in the AL Central next season, it's not desperate to move Cease.
Teams more recently rumored to be in on Cease include the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners. The Atlanta Braves were reportedly very interested in Cease but recently acquired Chris Sale from the Boston Red Sox.
White Sox general manager Chris Getz reportedly told teams that he was going to wait until the big-ticket free agent pitchers signed before moving Dylan Cease. Top starters such as Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery remain unsigned, and Cease remains on the White Sox as the 2024 MLB season slowly looms.
