An Unorthodox Dylan Cease Trade Idea
The Dylan Cease trade saga has been the main story line of the White Sox off-season and it really hasn’t gotten much traction. Tons of rumors, tons of hypotheticals, tons of timing expectations, but alas, no trades. First we thought the team would move quickly, even before the GM Meetings, then that didn’t happen. Then people thought a Tyler Glasnow trade would provide some sort of guideline for the market conditions and clear the runway. That happened and still no trade. Then we thought Yoshinobu Yamamoto signing his mega deal would create some scarcity for aces and a deal would get done. The ink is dry on the Yamamoto deal but still, no Cease deal. If not then, WHEN??!?!?!?!?
Then on Xmas Eve I saw an update from MLB Trade Rumors that maybe is showing us why the White Sox haven’t dealt Cease yet.
If the White Sox are just currently asking for most of a teams top 5-7 prospects, well, I can understand why a deal ain’t getting done yet. Prospect hugging has been a trend for the better part of the last decade and it appears to be getting worse. But what if you were able to get value for Dylan Cease without raiding the entire prospect cupboard from a team? Would that allow you to get an appropriate return and a deal done more expeditiously??? I dunno, shall we experiment?
An Unorthodox Trade
Rumor has it that the Rays are indeed in the market to trade outfielder Randy Arozarena. That’s right, the guy who in 2020 came outta nowhere and hit a billion homers in the playoffs and who has been pretty damn good since that as well, yea they want to trade him. Turns out ole Randy is getting a little old (29 in February) and expensive ($9M in Arb Year 2, he is a Super 2, so he’ll have 4 arb years) for the Rays.
Well that’s the Rays for ya. What if the White Sox just said, “fuck all the big dummies hoarding prospects that will never turn into anything” and made a trade where Dylan Cease became two big league regulars that hit for a ton of power and walked a lot. So much for the early defense only moves they have made. Let’s try this…
That’s right, Arozarena and Brandon Lowe for Cease and Gregory Santos. In this move the White Sox fill up two position player spots (Right Field and Second Base). I know they signed Nicky Lopez, he can move over to Short Stop and Paul DeJong can take his rightful place on the bench for now. I’m sorry this deal doesn’t include a big pile of prospects for you to dream upon it includes just 2 ~3 fWAR right now players. Hate to disappoint.
Why Would the Rays Do This??
MONEY!!! The Rays are in the market to trade Arozarena because he’s at the back end of his prime and he makes a lot of money (~$9M) for them. They cheap af. Brandon Lowe also makes a pretty penny, see below.
That’s another $8.75M knocked off the books. Cease is expected to make $8.8M in arbitration (per MLB Trade Rumors estimate) and Santos is a league min guy, so let’s say the Rays save $9M and add a top flight starter to a roster that can use it.
Lastly, the Rays can re-trade Cease at any point. You know how the Rays are pretty good at making trades for guys you never heard of and turning them into good players. Imagine how crazy that shit would be if they were trading Cease at the deadline or even next off-season. Tons of optionality.
Why Would the White Sox Do This???
Because they would add above league average players at two positions that they have had a damn near impossible time tryna fill. I’m almost aghast at myself for not thinking of this sort of route for trading Dylan Cease in the past and although the results of this trade will bare quickly and not leave the front office time to beg patience from us, at least it also has a shot to “contend” in the most obvious way.
I hate to say it, but why not just make a baseball trade instead of a time series trade. I DARE Chris Getz to make a trade like this with Dylan Cease. SHOW US HOW…….
And last but not least, to the prospect huggers who are likely to read this blog and yell and scream for BeefLoaf’s head in the streets, I borrow the words of the guy who put gambling, smoking cigars and fade away jumpers on the map.
-BeefLoaf
About The Author
beefloaf108
Low information White Sox Fan. Big Feet Energy ORIGINAL 108er Like Whore 2019 Opening Day #SoxMath WINNAR Mediocrity Personified
Love this but begs the question about Santos and Sox pen. Who is the ’24 closer?
Yup, gonna be building a bullpen on the fly imo….lol
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