The Braves have already completed a pretty significant trade with the White Sox, sending five players — including Michael Soroka, Nicky Lopez, and Jared Shuster — to Chicago for lefty relief pitcher Aaron Bummer. That’s notable because the White Sox are reportedly open for business on all of their players, and having an established working relationship with a general manager is advantageous in future negotiations
This continues a series of mine where I cook up trade hypotheticals for players that are confirmed to be up for sale. The White Sox don’t have a ton more that would interest the Braves, but Dylan Cease would be a dream for a team that is searching every corner to improve their rotation.
If you missed any previous parts to this series, follow the links below.
- Braves trade hypothetical for Tyler Glasnow
- Braves trade hypothetical for Corbin Burnes and Freddy PeraltaÂ
- Braves trade hypothetical for Christian Yelich, Devin Williams, and Willy Adames
Braves Dylan Cease Trade Hypothetical
Braves Receive: Dylan Cease
White Sox Receive: AJ Smith-Shawver, Hurston Waldrep, Spencer Schwellenbach and Ian Anderson
Some might think the Braves don’t have the prospect capital to pull off another blockbuster trade for a player like Dylan Cease, but that’s simply not true. They’d just have to be willing to part ways with pretty much what’s remaining of their farm system, including their two top guys in Hurston Waldrep and AJ Smith-Shawver.
Now, there are not many players on this planet that I would be willing to give up both Smith-Shawver and Waldrep for, but Dylan Cease is one of them. From a stuff perspective, he’s up there with the elite pitchers in the game, and he’s under contract for two more seasons at an affordable rate. Plus, he’s a Georgia kid, and I think there’s a fantastic chance the Braves could trade for him and then extend him, much like they did with Matt Olson and Sean Murphy. I would feel much more comfortable handing Dylan Cease a massive contract than Max Fried, and they could probably get him at a lower rate since he still has two years remaining on his contract.
From the White Sox’s perspective, I don’t see them getting much better than this, and if the Braves had to, they could even include someone like Vaughn Grissom to sweeten the deal. However, Smith-Shawver and Waldrep are two arms with frontline starter potential that are very close to being major-league ready. They also get another potential starting arm in Spencer Schwellenbach and a lottery ticket in Ian Anderson
Anderson may not line up with the White Sox timeline, but he’s not what’s going to be what holds up this deal. I would let Chicago pretty much take their pick to get this trade done. The Braves farm system would basically be obsolete after this move, but who cares? Adding Dylan Cease and then extending him would give Atlanta the most dominant one-two punch in baseball for the entirety of their championship window with Cease and Spencer Strider.
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Photographer: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire
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