Does This Cease Trade Scenario Make Sense for Yankees?
There is a price to be paid for everything in baseball. Yes, the New York Yankees acquired Juan Soto to bolster their outfield and their batting order.
But part of the price paid was promising starter Michael King. While he finished 4-8 last season, he made nine starts, most of which came down the stretch and he impressed the Yankees with his improvement. One could have envisioned penciling him in as a starter for 2024.
But, the Yankees used him, along with catcher Kyle Higashioka, pitcher Randy Vásquez, pitcher Jhony Brito and pitcher Drew Thorpe to snag Soto and Trent Grisham.
Solving one problem creates another. With Luis Severino having signed with the cross-town New York Mets, the Yankees have a fifth starter problem. They tried solving it with their pursuit of Japanese starter Yoshinubo Yamamoto. But he opted to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Yankees can feel pretty solid about Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt for next season. But there is plenty of room to navigate for a fifth starter. Internal candidates could be Yoendrys Gómez, Clayton Beeter and Luis Gil.
But if the Yankees want to lock in experience it’s not necessary to spend money in free agency. They could accomplish something similar with a trade for a pitcher like Chicago White Sox starter Dylan Cease.
MLB.com dove into six different trade scenarios recently and the site considers the Yankees to be the “Plan B” team. If “Plan A” was Yamamoto, then it’s time to get the next option.
Cease would be a quality option. He has a career 43-35 record with a 3.83 ERA. He was second in Cy Young voting in 2022 after a 14-8 season with a 2.20 ERA. He led the AL in strikeouts per nine innings in 2021 with 12.3.
Plus, he comes with two years of team control. No worrying about free agency until after the 2025 season.
Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz has said everyone is available.
So what would it take to pry Cease from the White Sox?
MLB.com proposed the Yankees send infielder Oswald Peraza, infielder/outfielder Oswaldo Cabrera, catcher Austin Wells and right-handed pitcher Will Warren. Wells and Warren are Top 10 prospects. Wells spent the final month with the Yankees last season.
That’s a significant package and of the two teams involved the Yankees might be the ones to balk at it. MLB.com writes that there’s no chance the Yankees will part with slugging prospect Jasson Domínguez. Plus, one could argue the price may be too high relative to the Yankees’ last trade, as MLB.com explains:
But if you're New York, is it worth it to send off a bunch of promising young players for Cease, potentially a higher price than it took to get Juan Soto?
This is a deal the Yankees could make, and if they do, it would allow the Yankees to fill out their rotation with five veterans entering Spring Training.
