If Not Monty, Could Texas Rangers Trade For White Sox Right-Hander Dylan Cease?
Jordan Montgomery may remain unattainable for the Texas Rangers, but another starting pitcher might be headed to Arlington.
According to multiple reports, including from the Dallas Morning News and The Athletic, the Rangers have discussed a possible trade with the Chicago White Sox involving right-handed starter Dylan Cease.
Cease, who turned 28 in December, had a down season in 2023, going 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA in 33 starts for the .500 White Sox. In the previous two seasons, however, Cease, who was a sixth-round pick out of high school for the Chicago Cubs in the 2014 MLB Draft, was 27-15 with a 3.01 ERA and 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings over nearly 350 innings.
The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported that the White Sox are looking for at some of the Rangers' top young talent "in the range" of pitching prospects Jack Leiter and Brock Porter and super utility player Ezequiel Durán.
The DMN's Evan Grant reported that White Sox scouts have scoured the Rangers spring training complex in Surprise, Ariz., looking for potential trade pieces. Rosenthal reported that the White Sox are also taking a long look at San Diego Padres prospects.
What makes Cease so desirable for the Rangers? For one, he'd be under club control for the next two seasons. He's earning $8 million with a year of arbitration eligibility remaining. For the spending-wearing Rangers front office, that probably looks a lot more inviting than signing Montgomery for a multi-year, $20 million-plus contract.
Texas isn't the only club zeroing in on Cease. The New York Yankees have offered multiple trade proposals in recent days, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale.
The Rangers, of course, are expecting starting pitchers Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, and Jacob deGrom to return from injury recovery sometime this summer. The hope is that Scherzer will be back by June, Mahle by July, and deGrom by early August.
Rosenthal suggests the addition of Cease could turn the Rangers from mere contenders to front-runners in defending their 2023 World Series title.
"If healthy, a second-half rotation that included Cease, Eovaldi, deGrom and Scherzer not only would make the Rangers strong favorites to win the AL West but also significantly improve their chances of becoming the first back-to-back Series champions since the 1998 to 2000 New York Yankees," Rosenthal wrote.
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