Inside The Cardinals

Here's What It Would Reportedly Cost Cardinals To Trade For Dylan Cease

St. Louis would have to give up a haul

Scott Neville

Here's What It Would Reportedly Cost Cardinals To Trade For Dylan Cease
Here's What It Would Reportedly Cost Cardinals To Trade For Dylan Cease /
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The St. Louis Cardinals went into the offseason highly motivated to revamp their pitching staff after a last-place finish in the National League Central.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak wasted no time in acquiring a trio of starting pitchers -- landing Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn before most teams made a single move. 

Still, the rotation is far from elite and could use a young, controllable asset to infuse with a veteran-laden staff. 

One of the top names on the market has been coveted by a plethora of teams but will not come cheap in terms of prospect capital. 

"The Chicago White Sox have recently spoken to the (New York) Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but they are not close to trading ace Dylan Cease," USA Today's Bob Nightengale wrote Sunday.

"They’re still holding out for two premium prospects and two others in return. If the White Sox don’t get what they want, they’ll hold onto him until they do."

Cease posted a 4.58 ERA with a 214-to-79 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .250 batting average against and a 1.42 WHIP in 177 innings last season. 

The 28-year-old has a career 3.83 ERA (113 ERA+) in 123 starts over his five-season career and has made at least 32 starts for the last three years.

He's a frontline starter coming off an inconsistent season but has two years of team control and all the tools to be a Cy Young-caliber arm -- he finished second for the award in 2022.

With that said, the White Sox's brass are out of their minds for setting such an asking price. Based on these terms, it would cost the Cardinals star right-handed prospect Tink Hence as well as one of outfielders Chase Davis or Victor Scott II plus two more players. That would be an asinine cost for two seasons of a fringe ace.

While Cease would make the current roster much more competitive, that should be a hard pass in order to keep the Cardinals' future bright.

More MLB: Cardinals Reportedly Trade For Impact High-Leverage Reliever From Rays

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox."  After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu