The market for Dylan Cease has shifted all offseason, with new reports popping up nearly every day. The latest report, however, contradicts everything we’ve heard previously.
According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, two rival executives believe that the White Sox are going to keep Dylan Cease heading into the 2024 season. However, the executives do believe that the White Sox – should no teams continue to meet their asking price – would trade Cease at the trade deadline, when they believe “[The White Sox] will get what they want.”
From the Orioles and the Yankees to the Braves and the Dodgers, there has been no shortage of rumors surrounding teams interested in Cease’s services next season. The most promising lead – a package with the Yankees – seemingly fell through once the club signed Marcus Stroman. Indeed, Bob Nightengale of USA Today would later write that the Yankees were unwilling to include top prospects Spencer Jones and Chase Hampton in their offer for Cease. As for the other teams connected: the Reds signed Frankie Montas, the Braves traded for Chris Sale, and the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and traded for Tyler Glasnow. The Orioles remain committed to keeping their prospects – at least at this time. As a result, it has reportedly created a situation where all of the potential suitors were unwilling to meet the asking price and looked elsewhere. At the same time: this report still could be posturing from the White Sox or from those looking to get the White Sox to lower their price.
While the executives are correct in their statement that there is no reason for the White Sox to lower their asking price, the risk here is also obvious: should Cease not perform better than his 2023 results, his value will continue to fall from where it is currently. That would lead to the White Sox getting even less than their desired asking price. At the same time, he could perform closer to his 2022 results and rebuild his value after working with Ethan Katz and Brian Bannister over the offseason. Either way you spin it, the hardest thing to do is predict what a player’s future value will be – especially when there are still so many games to be played. Continually playing to Cease’s benefit is the fact that even at the trade deadline, he will still have one more year of team control.
As this situation continues to unfold in different ways, we will continue to provide updates.
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As long as Ethan Katz is involved, the smart money to bet on further regression.
Sox are asking for 2022 Cease pricing. None of the other MLB teams are going to pay that. And, if the Sox keep him, they will get even less at the trade deadline. Here is another example of a Reisndork organization overvaluing their prospects. Bulls have done it and still do it now.