Twins would have one of baseball's most dominant rotations with Dylan Cease

Cease is reportedly on the trade block and the Twins have the assets to get a deal done.

Sep 7, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease (84) looks on after a three run second inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Chadd Cady-Imagn Images / Chadd Cady-Imagn Images

If the Minnesota Twins shock the world and trade for Padres right-hander Dylan Cease, the sour mood around the ball club would instantly change and provide significant optimism about the 2025 season.

Not only would Minnesota add a man who looks like Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood to the rotation, but they would be adding a starting pitcher who has been a top-four vote-getter for the Cy Young award twice in the last three seasons.

Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported this week that the Twins are interested in Cease, who is believed to be on the trading block as the Padres look to shed salary. Cease is curretnly signed for one year and $13.25 million.

"Given the need for starting pitching around the league, the Padres would likely be open to trading Cease if they can find a team willing to part with controllable players and/or prospects," MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported.

Hayes reported that the Padres are interested in acquiring catcher Christian Vazquez from the Twins. It's unclear if a trade package including Vazquez and prospects would get the Padres to budge on Cease, but Minnesota has one of the best farm systems in the majors and surely has enough in the tank to compete in a bidding war.

With Cease, the Twins would have arguably the second-best starting rotation in the majors behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, who after signing Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki have a star-studded rotation including Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Pablo Lopez has already been announced as the Twins' Opening Day starter, so it would be logical to slide Cease into the No. 2 spot with Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan behind them. The No. 5 starter would be one of David Festa, Simeon Woods Richardson, Zebby Matthews or Chris Paddack.

Just imagine this rotation:

Starter	2024 ERA	2024 K/9	2024 WHIP
Pablo Lopez	4.08	9.6	1.192
Dylan Cease	3.47	10.6	1.067
Bailey Ober	3.98	9.6	1.002
Joe Ryan	3.60	9.8	0.985
David Festa	4.90	10.8	1.321

Trading for Cease would likely have to come under the assumption that he'd sign a long-term contract extension with Minnesota. He's entering the final year of his current deal and he'll surely be one of baseball's highest-paid pitchers once he inks a new contract, and with new ownership coming to the Twins the likelihood of Minnesota forking over the money it requires to roster the best players in the game would be far more likely than it is now under the Pohlad family.