With Spring Training approaching rapidly, Braves Country is anxious for another move following the Jurickson Profar signing, ideally of the blockbuster variety. And there’s not a bigger name on the market than Dylan Cease.
The club is being linked to Dylan Cease, who is once again the subject of trade rumors. Per Pat Ragazzo, Atlanta, along with the Mets, have spoken to the Padres about a potential trade for Dylan Cease and his teammate Michael King.
“According to sources briefed on the situation, the Mets have spoken to the San Diego Padres about star pitchers Dylan Cease and Michael King who are both available via trade.
The NL East rival Braves are another team who are in need of starting pitching and have talked to the Padres about both Cease and King, sources say,” Ragazzo wrote.
Last offseason, the Braves were also interested in Cease before the White Sox traded him to the Padres. In atypical fashion, Alex Anthopoulos actually admitted to fans at Braves Fan Fest that he tried trading for Cease, but the asking price was too high, and that could be the case again this time around.
The Cubs are also interested in Dylan Cease, and the Padres asking price, according to Jacob Zanolla of Cubs Insider, is their top prospect Matt Shaw and some, making a Braves trade incredibly unlikely.
Shaw is a top 20 prospect in all of baseball and is in line to start for Chicago if nothing changes between now and Spring Training. Shaw finished the 2024 season in Triple-A Iowa with a .298/.395/.534 slash line, good for a .929 OPS.
For a one-year rental of Dylan Cease, that’s a high asking price. Right now, the Braves’ top prospect is Drake Baldwin, so it’s safe to assume the package for Cease would begin with Baldwin and likely include more.
That might be worth it if Cease were to sign an extension, but there’s no guarantee he’d be open to doing so. The overwhelming expectation is that Dylan Cease will test the free agent market next offseason as a Scott Boras client.
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Photographer: Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire
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