The Chicago White Sox avoided arbitration with ace pitcher Dylan Cease, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. Cease and the White Sox settled at $8 million.
This doesn't take away what's to possibly come in the future for the right-hander. Rumors continue suggesting that Chicago will move him for the right price and GM Chris Getz confirmed that recently when speaking to reporters.
When talking about how the trade market was for his aces services, Getz noted that they've had these conversations. He had the following to say, according to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times:
""We've had [trade] conversations about Dylan [Cease] but we're not going to move someone unless there's a benefit.""
The 28-year-old will be eligible for arbitration again in 2025 before reaching free agency due to having just four years of service time.
When he does become a free agent, it's almost certain at this point that he won't be returning to the White Sox.
If there's a scenario where he's not traded within the next two years, this could be the perfect time for Chicago to show their best player that they're committed to trying to win and giving him as much money as he wants. However, that'd also require them to go out and spend money on other free agents, something they haven't been willing to do recently.
For his standards, the 2023 season was one that he's going to want to forget. He posted a 4.58 ERA in 177.0 Innings and while his FIP was just 3.72, it was the highest since the 2020 season. Cease struck out 214, which was the lowest since the 2020 season, too. A down year for his standards, but an impressive one for most other pitchers in baseball.
Whoever ends up trading for Cease can expect to get one of the best pitchers in baseball on a team-friendly deal.