Late Wednesday afternoon, news broke that the San Diego Padres secured right-handed pitcher Dylan Cease from the Chicago White Sox.
In return, the White Sox are set to acquire a handful of top prospects from the Padres’ farm system. Among them is right-handed pitcher Drew Thorpe, the fourth-ranked prospect in San Diego’s farm and the 64th-ranked prospect on ESPN’s top 100 MLB prospects list. Additionally, Chicago will receive right-handed pitcher Jairo Iriarte, ranked seventh among San Diego’s minor league prospects, along with outfielder Samuel Zavala and right-handed pitcher Steven Wilson.
To accommodate the addition of Dylan Cease to the 40-man roster, the White Sox have designated outfielder Peyton Burdick for assignment.
Cease, 28, was the runner-up for the American League Cy Young Award back in 2022, though he experienced a dip in performance this past season. En route to his second-place Cy Young finish, Cease struck out 227 batters and posted a dazzling 2.20 ERA. While he continued to strike out hitters at a high clip in ’23 (214 SO in 177.0 IP), Cease saw his ERA balloon to 4.58.
Cease remains under team control for the current season as well as the next, with a contract worth $8 million for the year 2024. Undoubtedly, his contract was a key factor in attracting interest from teams like the Padres, who aimed to avoid significant payroll additions. With the acquisition of Cease, the Padres bolster their roster, seizing the opportunity presented by Cease’s unlikely prospects of securing a long-term deal with Chicago.
Despite opting to let reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell look for another team following the ’23 season, San Diego has built quite a rotation. Cease will join the likes of Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Michael King atop the rotation.
