A trade package with the Yankees that could help them land Dylan Cease

It’s no secret that the Chicago White Sox are actively shopping start pitcher Dylan Cease to teams to trade. There are rumors, almost daily, about him going to one team or another. We hear that there is a trade imminent and then we don’t hear anything for several days. It could be a game that’s being played by the White Sox to drum up interest in the star, or deals could be close then falling through. As we are not in the front offices of the White Sox, it’s hard to speculate what’s happening out there.

But it’s fun to try to speculate what will happen in the end.

The New York Yankees are a team that’s always looking for the next best thing and seems to be very active when it comes to acquiring top talent. That’s because they are forward-thinking and have a ton of money to spend. The Yankees have been mentioned as a team interested in grabbing a guy like Cease. So why not look at the possibilities of them trading for him?

Now it’s highly likely that they aren’t going to give up one of their top prize hitters for Cease. Instead, I could see them sending a small handful of good prospects over to the White Sox for him. They won’t be giving Aaron Judge or anyone of that caliber away, but the White Sox could get a good return on “future” prospects.

The White Sox have several positions of need heading into the 2024 season and it would be good to fill those needs. They need a right fielder and a shortstop, although shortstop is a need that they can solve, long-term, by bringing Colson Montgomery up from the minors at some point.

Looking at the Yankees roster, they have several outfielders that might fill the bill. Of course, Judge and Juan Soto aren’t going to be going anywhere. They also likely won’t let go of Alex Verdugo, whom they acquired recently from the Boston Red Sox, but that might not be entirely true.

They may have actually “tripled up” on right fielders with Soto, Judge, and Verdugo and could let Verdugo go in a trade for Cease. That would benefit the White Sox greatly, actually. But Verdugo wouldn’t be the only piece of the puzzle that the Yankees send to the White Sox for Cease.

If you look at the Yankees’ roster and check out their shortstop position, you will see that they are three men deep with Jeter Downs, Anthony Volpe, and Oswald Peraza. The Yankees won’t let the young Volpe go but Peraza or Downs could be up for grabs. It would be interesting to see if the White Sox would be willing to trade for a shortstop considering they think that they are strong up the middle with Paul DeJong and Nicky Lopez. If they don’t bring up Montgomery, they must find shortstop help somewhere, and the Yankees could provide it despite their thoughts on DeJong and Lopez.

The Whtie Sox need pitching help, and the Yankees seem to have plenty of that, especially after signing Marcus Stroman. They aren’t going to get rid of their top performers, like Gerrit Cole or Nestor Cortes, but they might be willing to look at letting someone from the bullpen go, two players perhaps. Two relief pitchers that come to mind include Cody Morris and Nick Ramirez.

Should they trade him, the Chicago White Sox need a fair and good return for Cease. We have looked at a few options that might interest the White Sox. If we were to put it all together, I would say that, in exchange for Cease, the White Sox should try to get Verdugo, Downs, and Morris as part of the deal. Maybe that’s a lot to ask for, but I think it would be a fair deal for the White Sox and would give them a good return for their star pitcher.