Anyone who has had the honor of watching the first few games of the season that Chicago White Sox ace Dylan Cease has pitched knows that he is special. The man practically never falters, he’s a pitching machine, and he’s one of the most intelligent ball players out there.
The White Sox are lucky to have a player like Cease in their lineup. But do they deserve him?
The way the White Sox have been playing as of late, providing him with little to no run support, blowing leads, and having poor bullpen play, the Sox do not deserve such a top performer as Cease.
He’s the best player on a team that can’t help but support his ability to win games. Not getting the kind of support that he needs from the rest of the team is going to cost Cease additional wins and quite possibly the Cy Young Award when it’s all said and done.
The Chicago White Sox needs to get better around Dylan Cease.
He needs help from his teammates and is not getting it.
You can bet that there are 29 other teams out there that would really like to have Cease. And if Cease wanted to succeed and eventually earn the Cy Young Award, he might want to be on one of those better teams.
Imagine him on a team like the Tampa Bay Rays or the Houston Astros. With the kind of support that those teams have available, Cease could have a monster year.
But he’s on the White Sox and that’s where we like him.
But we don’t deserve him.
Cease is poised to have another great year and all signs point to the fact that he is going to be in the running for the Cy Young once again.
His start to the year has been magnificent and he’s coming along well. He just isn’t getting any support from the team around him. Even the defense has struggled to support him at times which has certainly caused him frustration and doesn’t help his numbers at all.
On a better team, Cease would flourish.
The White Sox aren’t doing that well. They are really struggling to start the season and have several problems.
Injuries have taken hold and decimated parts of their lineup. The bullpen is not performing near as well or anywhere close to what it should be. The defense has been poor and the pitching started out bad but has gotten somewhat better.
Perhaps when the White Sox get healthy again and get guys like Liam Hendriks and Tim Anderson back, things will be better but right now it looks a little bleak for the Sox.
We can only hope that things pick up and get better. We want to see this team succeed as well as Cease who deserves all the help and support he can get from his teammates as he tries to win the Cy Young Award.
Ultimately, if the White Sox don’t get better, Cease may want to move on to a team that can best help him win a Cy Young. Whether it’s this season or the next, the White Sox may lose their star pitcher. They could trade him and get something big in return.
Ideally, it would be best for the Sox and their fans if Cease stayed with the team. Hopefully, that happens but the team around him needs to get better.