Dylan Cease Trade Idea Lands Padres Budding Star Outfielder, Top Prospect Pitcher

The San Diego Padres have had a great offseason recently.

With such a slow start, the baseball world wondered if a 93-win team would make any major moves to edit their roster.

Free agents were linked to San Diego, only to land with other teams. Core pieces from the season prior were expected to be back, only to play elsewhere in 2025.

Right as things started to get a little too close for comfort, the moves started coming in.

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First baseman Connor Joe, outfielder Jason Heyward, right-hander Nick Pivetta, and Korea Baseball Organization's reigning Cy Young award equivalent winner, southpaw Kyle Hart were all added within a week's time.

The pitching support begs the question that perhaps a pitcher from the 2024 team may be on the move in order to shed payroll.

It is no question that Dylan Cease has been the talk of potential trades all offseason long, but this is the first time that there are legitimate roster moves that would corroborate a deal. If this were to actually happen this time around, San Diego would need a player to plug in now, and at the very least a top prospect in return.

Bleacher Report has cooked up a trade that does just that, sending Cease to the Baltimore Orioles.

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The Padres get two 26-year-olds out of this, first baseman/outfielder Heston Kjerstad, and Baltimore's No. 3 prospect right-hander Chayce McDermott.

Kjerstad registered 52 games in the majors the last two seasons batting .248/.336/.411 with 32 hits and 17 RBIs during this time. The outfield is a bit crowded for the Orioles, but there could be a need for him in left field where he can blossom into a core piece of the Padres. However, the signing of Joe and Heyward could squander that idea.

McDermott had a 3.78 ERA in 100 innings pitched last season. Additionally, 144 strikeouts to only 60 walks show that he has major league-caliber stuff, but the Padres would need to work with him on control before he is ready for The Show.

Baltimore of course gets their Corbin Burnes replacement in Cease, but with the kind of year he had in 2024 wearing a Padres uniform, San Diego fans are unlikely to be sore if the right-hander remains in the 2025 rotation.

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