On the verge of departing for South Korea for the Seoul Series that is part of the MLB World Tour 2024, the San Diego Padres traded for Dylan Cease in exchange for three prospects and Steven Wilson.
The Padres also traded Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte and Samuel Zavala to the Chicago White Sox. Thorpe and Iriarte are top prospects in the Padres farm system and were ranked by multiple publications among top 100 overall in the sport.
Cease was a popular trade target throughout the offseason, with the Los Angeles Dodgers once among the teams with reported interest. However, one scenario reportedly included the Dodgers acquiring Cease to then trade him to another club.
There was a sentiment the White Sox were holding off on a Cease trade until Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell signed. Yamamoto wound up signing a record-setting contract with the Dodgers, while Snell remains a free agent.
Cease now joins a Padres rotation to give them a formidable trio alongside Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove. Cease is under team control through the 2025 season, which is an important factor for a Padres team that shed payroll during the offseason by trading Juan Soto to the New York Yankees.
After a breakout season in 2022, Cease regressed last year as he finished just 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA, 3.72 FIP and 1.42 WHIP. Cease was impacted by a struggling White Sox defense that ranked the worst in baseball, so a change of scenery could potentially benefit him.
Cease was drafted by the Chicago Cubs but up to this point had spent his entire Major League career with the White Sox.
Will Dylan Cease pitch in Seoul Series?
Although Cease is going to meet the Padres in South Korea, the right-hander may not pitch against the Dodgers in the Seoul Series.
The Padres previously named Darvish their Opening Day starter with Musgrove taking the ball in the second game. The Dodgers are countering with Tyler Glasnow and Yamamoto.
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