White Sox will miss Cease, but 'really good' return excites

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- There’s good news and bad news coming from Wednesday’s trade sending White Sox ace Dylan Cease to the Padres for right-handed pitchers Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte and Steven Wilson and outfielder Samuel Zavala.

Here’s the good news: General manager Chris Getz added three pitchers who could help the White Sox at various stages during the 2024 season, with Wilson certain to break camp in the bullpen, and brought in a multi-talented 19-year-old in Zavala who could be the swing piece in the deal.

As for that bad news? Well, the pitcher who finished second in the ‘22 American League Cy Young voting is no longer on the team. The right-hander who came within one out of no-hitting the Twins on Sept. 3, 2022, before Luis Arraez singled, has moved to the National League.

The consummate clubhouse presence, who made 97 starts over the past three years, won’t be part of this current White Sox rebuild or their hopeful climb to contention.

“Dylan was very grateful for his opportunities here with the White Sox, and I know that he is excited about going to start a new chapter with another organization,” Getz said. “And I'm very confident he's going to do well the remainder of his career."

“It's tough when you have a relationship with the guy, but it's a good opportunity for him,” pitching coach Ethan Katz said. “It's a good opportunity for us here. I think he's really excited.”

Trade rumors swirled around Cease basically from the moment Texas finished off Arizona to win the ‘23 World Series title, if not shortly before. He is earning $8 million this season and the White Sox had two years of contractual control, making him a prime target for contenders and the White Sox top trade chip with center fielder Luis Robert Jr. staying in Chicago.

Getz put forth a high talent ask for a return, almost requiring an access fee in terms of players in the trade package because of all the intangibles Cease provides. He waited out previous offers and after a bit of a quiet period during Spring Training, interest pushed back up on Monday of this week.

This offer from San Diego had what Getz wanted and presented the best pitching return. Cease was locked in from Day 1 of Spring Training, striking out eight over 3 1/3 innings during a victory over the Reds Tuesday night, while consistently hitting the 97-98 mph range with his fastball.

“Other teams' comfort levels were raised when they were able to see him in person. Obviously they don't know the player like we do. It was kind of a perfect storm,” Getz said. “The million dollar question of if you take this into the season, taking it toward the [Trade] Deadline, what type of return does that look like? That's a risk.

“Were we willing to take that? Of course I was willing to take it into the season. However there's no denying that a lot of things could happen on a baseball field throughout a season. You weigh that risk with the offer that was given to us by San Diego and we felt like that was something likely not to be met if we would have taken it into the season.”

Cease’s departure leaves the White Sox without an Opening Day starter, and manager Pedro Grifol was not ready to name a replacement Thursday before his team’s 5-1 victory over the Angels at Camelback Ranch. Katz also mentioned 10 pitchers still in competition for the five rotation spots with two weeks until Opening Day.

This ‘24 version of the White Sox has a different look, a different vibe during Cactus League action, even if their record is 7-13-1. They are taking good at-bats, taking 90 feet whenever given to them, playing solid defense and have won three in a row.

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Michael Soroka reiterated the White Sox being able to surprise people this year after his four scoreless innings with five strikeouts Thursday. That fact can be true even with Cease gone.

“You lose a person like that, obviously it hurts a little bit,” Soroka said. “But this is a game. Having gone through a trade myself in the last year, there are always good people around … All the conversations we’ve had with Chris Getz have been ideal for us players and it’s a good time to trust him.”

“Gotta move on. Next man up,” said White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who, like Soroka, wished Cease well. “Gotta keep grinding.”

“Something like that happens and you start gathering information, get calls from people around the league,” Grifol said. “It’s a really good group that we got back and we lost a really good pitcher.”