Padres Acquire Dylan Cease from Chicago White Sox

A blockbuster right before Korea.

The San Diego Padres are acquiring right-handed pitcher Dylan Cease from the Chicago White Sox. Prospects Samuel Zavala, Steven Wilson, Jairo Iriarte and Drew Thorpe are going to the Chicago White Sox in return.

ESPN's Jeff Passan was the first to report the trade.

A day before the Padres get set to head to Korea for the Seoul Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, they're finalizing the rotation with a blockbuster deal for an ace-level pitcher.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the Padres were among the interested teams in Cease, and that the White Sox were heavily scouting the Padres in spring training.

Clearly, the White Sox liked what they saw, as the two sides reached a deal just a week before the Padres open their season.

Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish are slated to make the starts in Korea, and it's unlikely those plans would change with Cease in the mix.

However, Cease greatly shores up a rotation that had tons of question marks, and gives the Padres one of the best top of the rotations in the league.

Cease is 28 years old and coming off a disappointing 2023 campaign with Chicago in which he had a 4.58 ERA across 33 starts.

However, he's just one year removed from a 2022 season in which he had a 2.20 ERA and 227 strikeouts in 32 starts and 184 innings pitched. He finished second in American League Cy Young voting that season.

Cease is on the hook for $8 million in 2024 and has two years of team control. His contract fits with the Padres' plans of shedding payroll this offseason, which is why a trade made sense all along.