Dylan Cease eviscerates imploding White Sox ahead of Chicago return

Though not facing the Chicago White Sox, Dylan Cease is experiencing the City of Chicago for the first time as a visiting player. The San Diego Padres are set to wrap up their series with the Chicago Cubs this afternoon.

Cease is off to a solid start, owning a record of 4-2 with a 2.55 ERA. He'll make the start in the series finale this afternoon.

Cease spent the first five seasons of his career with the White Sox and was on hand for the disaster that was the 2023 season. Last year, the White Sox lost 101 games and finished in fourth place in the AL Central.

The young right-hander was asked about his time with the South Siders and his current perception of the organization. When giving his assessment, Cease did not hold back, completely eviscerating the White Sox for the mess they've created for themselves.

"Last year wasn't enjoyable in any way," Cease said.

Dylan Cease digs into White Sox after trade to Padres

Obviously, things haven't gone well for the White Sox over the past few seasons. After a 93-win campaign in 2021, they've missed the playoffs two years in a row and are off to an 8-28 start.

Cease too struggled in 2023, going 7-9 with an ERA of 4.58 on the heels of a Cy Young caliber season in 2022, when he finished second in the race behind Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander.

But like many associated with the White Sox, Cease isn't impressed by what he is seeing, and last year was truly an eye-opening experience for the new Padres ace.

Almost nothing went right for the White Sox, and Cease is living proof of how poorly things went, but he also didn't hold back on the organization for their missteps. The 2023 season wasn't enjoyable for anybody associated with the White Sox, especially with the team expecting to contend entering the season.

2024 isn't any better for the South Siders, who now have the worst record in all of baseball after their rough start to the season. Any hope at contending this year has already been dashed, and it's clear that Cease is enjoying the opportunity to play with a contending club in the Padres.

"Last year I think that in the minds of a lot of people, we had a really good chance to compete," said Cease. "I think we felt like we had a good chance to compete. We just didn't put it together. We had a really bad year and it obviously kind of led to the need to kind of redo everything."

And thus, that is the position the White Sox are in now, needing to redo almost everything and start from scratch to build a contender from the ground up. Their window is currently shut, and it's time for them to take steps towards building the next great White Sox team.

However, even Cease thinks they should be better than this.

"I think they have more talent than that for sure," he said.

Chicago has Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Benintendi, and Andrew Vaughn on their roster, so they aren't devoid of talent.

But regardless of the talent on their roster, the White Sox are not a good team. Cease understands this and ultimately was given a better opportunity when he was traded to the Padres prior to Opening Day. Now, he's part of a contending team with World Series aspirations as opposed to one that is still in the midst of a rebuild.