The Chicago White Sox were full-blown sellers at the 2023 MLB Trade Deadline. It was a disaster of a first half that led to that and they made themselves an even worse team by sending away some really good players.
One of the people they kept, however, was Dylan Cease. He wasn't having the best season of his career up to that point but we know the potential that he has. In fact, he was the AL Cy Young runner-up in 2022 which is almost as good as you can get.
After the trade deadline came and went without Cease getting traded, he started to fall off a little bit more. His final two starts of the season, however, were very good which made people wonder what is next for him in his career.
The Chicago White Sox would have been smart to trade Cease during the regular season. The next best thing would be to try and get a haul for him this off-season. There has to be a team or two that would buy his potential and give up a lot for it.
The Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles never made a Dylan Cease trade.
One of the teams that were in on Cease at the time of the deadline was the Baltimore Orioles. They didn't make the move though but still ended up as the AL East champions. On Tuesday, however, they were swept by the Texas Rangers in the ALDS.
They had a first-round bye as the number one seed in the American League so that means they didn't win a single playoff game after having over 100 wins in the regular season.
It probably wouldn't have changed their fate this year but it is clear that they should have traded for Cease. You never know what happens if they have him for a game one and he shoves. The entire series very well could have been different.
He finished this year strong and you also never know how things would have changed for him if he played on a winning team. The Chicago White Sox weren't good for anybody's game but when they leave they find it again. Cease probably would have also had the same thing happen to him.
Well, the Orioles are done and the Texas Rangers are in the ALCS. We will see if they learned their lesson and come crawling back to the White Sox for Cease during the winter. As White Sox fans know, window's don't stay open long so the O's might want to go for it ASAP.