MLB rumors: Dylan Cease's asking price is way too steep for Braves or Reds
While all of the attention is being focused on Juan Soto in the trade market currently, the most valuable pitcher available on the trade market just so happens to be Dylan Cease. The Chicago White Sox ace is coming off a down year in 2023, but was the AL Cy Young runner-up in 2022, and has two years of control compared to Corbin Burnes' and Tyler Glasnow's one.
With the White Sox looking to rebuild, they've made it known that Cease is very available. So many teams across the league need pitching, and pitchers of Cease's caliber that are projected to make just $8.3 million in 2024 according to Spotrac with an additional year of control just don't become available too often. The White Sox understandably have a high asking price but if what Bruce Levine of 670 The Score is reporting is indeed true, it's simply too much.
The asking price for Sox pitcher Dylan Cease is very high ,and should be for two yrs control and $8 mil-contract.The Reds were asked for 4 top prospects including RHP Rhett Lowder and RHP Chase Petty. #9 and #11 position prospects as well.Sox will get more as market shakes out.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) December 6, 2023
No team will meet this White Sox asking price in a Dylan Cease trade
Two prime suitors have been linked to Cease are the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds. Both teams need pitching, and both teams have the assets to get a deal done.
Levine is reporting that the Reds would have to give up four prospects to acquire Cease. Not only are they four prospects, they are four top-11 prospects, including Rhett Lowder, the 41st-ranked prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline. Lowder as a centerpiece makes perfect sense, but when Chase Petty a pitcher who could easily be a top-100 prospect by Opening Day next season is involved alongside two other top organizational prospects that's when this becomes too steep.
For the Braves to meet Chicago's demands, they'd likely have to offer each of their top two prospects in A.J. Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep plus some other young players. One of them makes sense, but both of them just isn't going to happen. They're both top-100 prospects. Smith-Shawver is already in the majors, and Waldrep was just selected in the first round by Atlanta.
There's asking for the moon, and then there's whatever this is. The White Sox should be doing whatever they can to maximize their return for their best pitcher, but these prices will be laughed at. These teams can simply look to sign free agents before giving up four of their top-11 prospects for a pitcher who is only cheap for the next two seasons.
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