Could the White Sox now target Jarred Kelenic in a Dylan Cease trade?

There was a big trade made on Sunday night between the Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners. Seattle sent OF Jarred Kelenic, LHP Marco Gonzales, and 1B Evan White to Atlanta in exchange for RHP Jackson Kowar and RHP Cole Phillips. This was a big move to kick off the Winter Meetings.

Atlanta has been one of the best teams over the last handful of years and that includes a World Series championship in 2021. They have been a perennial World Series contender over the last several years and are doing everything they can to keep it that way.

The Braves have been one of the teams rumored to be in on Chicago White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease. He is a very good pitcher that has put up incredible numbers throughout his career. However, he had a down year in 2023 by his standards. More importantly, with the just two years of team control left, being exceedingly unlikely to sign an extension with Scott Boras as his agent, and where the White Sox are as an organization, it doesn't seem like Cease is in Chicago's short-term or long-term plans.

In his career, Cease has a 3.83 ERA to go with a 1.305 WHIP, a 43-35 record, and 792 strikeouts over 658.0 innings pitched. His career WAR of 11.8 is very impressive and should continue to grow over the years. Entering his age-28 season, he has a lot of amazing baseball left to play.

The Chicago White Sox are a great fit for a player like Jared Kelenic

Jarred Kelenic has been a good fit for the White Sox for a long time. He is a left-handed hitter with some good pop and he can play right field which is a position of need. He has had an up-and-down career with the Mariners up to this point which is why they traded him.

In 2023, he had a pretty good year for Seattle. He slashed .253/.327/.419 for an OPS of .746. He hit 11 home runs, had 49 RBIs, and 44 runs scored in 105 games played. You'd like to think that getting close to 162 games would make his numbers look even better. He finished with a respectable 2.0 WAR.

The sixth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft could have been had by the White Sox at fourth overall but they went with Nick Madrigal instead. Now could be their time to get him as a part of a trade for Dylan Cease.

Kelenic could be one of those guys traded twice in the same off-season. He'd be great as a centerpiece in a trade involving Cease going to the Braves. It is something for both sides to consider now that the pieces are in place. We'll see if anything like it happens during the Winter Meetings.