Orioles: Perfect Dylan Cease trade Baltimore must offer White Sox

The sizzle on the Major League Baseball hot stove is starting to fade. It’s expected that the top names in MLB will be moving around more in the coming days, with Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, and Juan Soto off the board to their new locations.

Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox is one of the next big names that might be included in a deal.

A star-caliber season was hardly what Cease had at the end of 2023: he finished with a 7-9 record, 4.58 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, and a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.7. However, Cease’s 2022 season was unquestionably worthy of a star. He finished second in the AL Cy and had a 14-8 record with a 2.20 ERA and 1.1 WHIP.

However, the White Sox were far from the postseason in 2023 and missed out on it in 2022.

At the trade deadline, the White Sox were sellers, dishing out players like Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, and Lucas Giolito.

At the deadline, Cease’s name was being discussed in trade negotiations, but nothing came of it. He’s now been linked to trade speculations once more, with the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles said to be the most probable teams to sign Cease.

The Baltimore Orioles would be a fascinating destination for Cease. They took the league by storm last season and won 101 games despite being one of the youngest teams in the sport.

Cease would be a tremendous help for the Orioles. The questions becomes: what is a Dylan Cease trade the Orioles can offer that would make sense for both them and the White Sox?

Dylan Cease Orioles-White Sox trade

The Chicago White Sox trade Dylan Cease to the Baltimore Orioles for Joey Ortiz, Kyle Stowers, Justin Armbruester, Trace Bright, and Jud Fabian

Why the Orioles do this trade

Baltimore needs starting pitching badly, which is why they made this move. In 2023, the Orioles had a fantastic bullpen, but their starting pitchers fell short of expectations.

Only two of the six Orioles who pitched at least 70 innings and had at least 10 starts in 2023 (Tyler Bradish and Tyler Wells) had an ERA below four.

Among the group, Bradish was the only one with an ERA less than three. Though Bradish did record a 1.04 WHIP and Wells beat him with a 0.99 WHIP, no other starter for the Orioles was below a 1.28 WHIP.

This is one of the main reasons the Orioles finished 13th in strikeouts and 12th in opponents’ batting average (.242) in the Major League Baseball.

The Orioles fared pretty well in most pitching statistics last season, but their shortcomings with their starting rotation showed up in the playoffs.

Baltimore was able to keep the Texas Rangers at bay in Game 1 of their series against the eventual champions, but got blown out in their next two outings. And both of those games got out of hand early.

Grayson Rodriguez gave up five earned runs in less than two innings in Game 2 of that series, while Dean Kremer allowed six earned runs in less than two innings in the decisive Game 3.

They have to improve their rotation. Though Cease’s 2023 wasn’t much to write home about, he would be the huge improvement the Orioles desperately need.

Why the White Sox do this trade

If Chicago is actually going to trade Dylan Cease, they’re going to have to fetch significant prospects in quality and quantity. Luckily, the Orioles have them in both categories.

Bleacher Report named the Orioles’ farm system as the best in the sport, so if prospects are what the White Sox want, Baltimore is the right place to look. Almost every player involved in this deal is ranked inside of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect rankings.

Joey Ortiz, a second baseman, is ranked 95th in their rankings and has posted robust slashing lines (.286/.357/.449/.806) during his minor league career.

Kyle Stowers was a former second-round pick from Stanford University. He’s only appeared in 48 games in the majors, but he also lit up the minor leagues with slashing lines of .264/.363/.506/.869 to go with 73 home runs and 244 RBI across four seasons.

Jud Fabian is not as far down in his development as Ortiz and Stowers are, but he showed plenty of promise in A+ this season, where he hit .281/.392/.490/.882 across 56 games.

Justin Armbruester could end up being the prize of this trade. In three seasons in the minors, Armbruester has posted a 3.63 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP, a 9.1 strikeout per nine innings ratio, and a 2.76 strikeout per walk ratio.

He has plenty of tools to develop. The Orioles surely would love to keep developing him, but would also probably take the sure thing in Dylan Cease now. Chicago would love to keep him, but this is a great haul of prospects they’d be bringing in.

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