With Gerrit Cole missing the entire 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery, the New York Yankees' starting rotation is a bit in flux, but that does not mean that they will pivot and be able to acquire Dylan Cease in a trade with the San Diego Padres.

“The expectation in the industry over the last 24 hours is that Dylan Cease is not going to be traded to the Yankees to save their rotation in light of the Gerrit Cole injury,” Jon Morosi said on MLB Network. “Notably, Dylan Cease is on the mound today pitching at 4 p.m. eastern time, so I'm sure there will be plenty of scouts there looking at him. As they have with Michael King in recent days and Sandy Alcantara as well.”

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Recently, it was revealed that the Padres ‘prefer' to keep Cease and Michael King, who surfaced in trade talks at points this offseason. Presumably, it will take a significant package to get the Padres to budge from that stance. Morosi outlined why a theoretical deal might not make sense.

“The issue as it relates to the potential pairing between Cease and the Yankees is two-fold,” Morosi said. “Number one, I've been told that the Yankees are reluctant somewhat to add payroll right now. Now, some may say they should pivot and reconsider that in light of the Cole injury, but from what I was told, they're not in a spot to continue adding given where they're at with respect to the CBT (competitive balance tax). The other aspect is this, and Matt referenced this off the top in the A Block about the state of the Yankees farm system. If you were going to acquire or have a Dylan Cease deal, you might theoretically ask for Jasson Dominguez. Well, he's probably gonna play every day in the major leagues, or at least he should. Or perhaps Will Warren. Well, at this moment in time, could the Yankees really afford to give up one major league-ready pitcher to bring in someone else for one year?”

Morosi mentioned free agents Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn as potential signings for the Yankees, as those two. could provide innings at the very least. For now, a trade for Cease seems unlikely for the Yankees.