Padres land Cease from White Sox in 5-player trade

Dylan Cease finally has a new home after months of trade speculation.

The San Diego Padres acquired the right-hander from the Chicago White Sox for reliever Steven Wilson and prospects Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte, and Samuel Zavala, the clubs announced Wednesday.

The deal gives the Padres a projected rotation that includes Cease, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Michael King, and Matt Waldron, as the team heads to South Korea for the Seoul Series to kick off the 2024 MLB season against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 20-21.

“If you’re going to be serious about winning, which we are, this was something we targeted all offseason long,” Padres general manager A.J. Preller said, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic. “Obviously, getting somebody of the quality of Dylan Cease, I think, speaks to the fact that we think we have a chance to win and compete.”

The New York Yankees and Texas Rangers were reportedly interested in trading for the 2022 AL Cy Young runner-up. The San Francisco Giants were also in on Cease, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Cease surpassed the 200-strikeout plateau for a third straight campaign in 2023 despite posting a 4.58 ERA. The 28-year-old owns a career 3.83 ERA with 10.8 K/9. He will make $8 million this season and is arbitration-eligible through 2025.

Wilson, 29, recorded a 3.91 ERA with 1.17 WHIP and 9.7 K/9 across 52 appearances last year.

Chicago also gets the No. 5 (Thorpe), No. 7 (Zavala), and No. 8 (Iriarte) prospects in the Padres’ minor-league system, according to MLB Pipeline.

The 23-year-old Thorpe, who came over to San Diego in the Juan Soto deal in December, authored a 2.52 ERA with 11.8 K/9 over a combined 139 1/3 innings between Single-A and Double-A in 2023. Iriarte, 22, amassed a 3.49 ERA with 128 strikeouts over 90 1/3 innings across two minor-league levels last season. Finally, the 19-year-old Zavala had 14 homers, 77 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases with a .797 OPS while predominantly playing center field over 115 games in Single-A last year.

The White Sox designated outfielder Peyton Burdick to make room on their 40-man roster for the incoming players.

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