The San Diego Padres are finalizing a deal to acquire right-hander Dylan Cease from the Chicago White Sox, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.
The White Sox return includes right-handers Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte, per MLB Network's Jon Morosi. The Padres have five prospects inside MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list. Thorpe was ranked as No. 85. The White Sox will also receive 29-year-old reliever Steven Wilson and 19-year-old outfielder Samuel Zavala, according to The Atheltic's Dennis Lin and USA Today's Bob Nightengale report.
Thorpe posted a 2.52 ERA in 139.1 innings across High-A and Double-A last season. He limited opponents to a .200 batting average and struck out 182 batters while surrendering 38 walks. The former Cal Poly starter was an All-American in 2022 and set a school record with 149 punchouts in 104 ⅔ innings of work in 2022. The Padres added him as part of a trade that sent Juan Soto to the Yankees.
Iriarte is the fourth-ranked pitcher in the Padres system. He produced a 3.49 ERA last season split between High-A and Double-A. During his 29.1 innings in Double-A, he limited opponents to a .198 average. The Padres initially inked him to a $300,000 deal as part of their 2018-19 international signing class. The Venezuelan has a fastball that can touch 98 mph and a slider that sits in the low 80s.
Wilson is entering his third MLB season. He owns a career 3.41 ERA in 52 appearances. In 2023 he went 1-2 with a 3.91 ERA in 53 innings. During that stretch, he owned a 26% strikeout rate. However, he also had a 12.3% walk rate which ranked in the bottom seven percent of the MLB.
Zavala has played two games for the Padres this spring. Last season he split time between the club's low-A and High-A affiliates. He hit .243 with a .797 OPS with 14 home runs and 77 RBIS. He was ranked as the Padres No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline.
Cease had been the focus of trade rumors all offseason. However multiple reports suggested that White Sox general manager Chris Getz maintained a high asking price which stalled multiple negotiations.
The former White Sox ace is coming off a down year where he posted a 4.58 ERA. However, he is earning just $8 million in 2024, which made him one of the most affordable top-of-the-line starters available this offseason. He has also looked sharp this spring with 14 strikeouts and just two walks in 8 1/3 innings in two Cactus League starts.
The 28-year-old owns a career 11.8 WAR and 3.83 ERA. He finished runner-up in the 2022 Cy Young voting after posting a 2.20 ERA and a career-high 227 strikeouts. Cease has ranked inside the MLB’s top ten in strikeouts in each of the last three seasons.
Cease spent the first five seasons of his MLB career on the South Side. But judging by the tone of his postgame comments following his last outing it appeared that the Georgia native was eager to get out of Chicago to pitch for a contender. He told reporters on Tuesday that Getz had called him in the morning to warn him that trade rumors were going to be going around.
"It is just something that's not that big of a deal. It's out of my control and really I just want to perform like I've said. Either way, I just don't really view it as a negative," Cease told reporters following what turned out to be his final start in a White Sox uniform.
Dylan Cease on today’s trade rumors. pic.twitter.com/HQYrJx4HHq
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) March 13, 2024
Cease provides more stability to a Padres rotation that had three set starters and a bunch of young arms competing for the final spots, before the trade. He will now join Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove at the top of the rotation. Michael King, the headliner of the Juan Soto return, is also expected to earn a spot in the Friar's rotation. During the offseason, the Padres lost Micheal Wacha, Seth Lugo, and Nick Martinez while Blake Snell remains unsigned as a free agent.
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