The New York Mets are looking for some extra juice for the top of their rotation as they have been in talks with the San Diego Padres regarding Dylan Cease, per multiple reports.
The 29-year-old right-hander got back on track in 2024, going 14-11 with a 3.47 ERA, a career-best 1.067 WHIP, and 224 strikeouts in 189 innings pitched. He was dealt to San Diego from the Chicago White Sox last year after trudging through a significant regression in 2023.
Cease finished second in the American League Cy Young Award voting in 2022 despite leading the league with 78 walks, going 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA and 227 strikeouts in 184 innings of work. The following season, that ERA swelled to 4.58 while issuing 79 free passes and a league-worst 14 wild pitches.
His rebound season with San Diego, though, offers the hope that he could serve as a legitimate No. 2 starter, which is something the Mets could certainly use.
President of baseball operations David Stearns has built a potential six-man rotation with plenty of question marks, hoping to re-capture lightning in a bottle the same way he did with the 2024 rotation, which featured production from Luis Severino and Sean Manaea that exceeded all expectations.
While Severino and Jose Quintana are gone, Manaea is back, currently holding the No. 2 role behind Kodai Senga, who pitched all of five regular-season innings last year due to shoulder and calf injuries. Stearns acquired Frankie Montas, another veteran looking to get back on track, along with former Yankees closer Clay Holmes to round out the bottom of the rotation alongside Paul Blackburn.
Cease would at least provide some insurance should one of New York’s major question marks in the rotation not pan out. But at what cost would he come?
Jon Heyman of the New York Post listed three of their top prospects in starting pitcher Brandon Sproat, infielder/outfielder Jett Williams, and infielder Luisangel Acuna as names the Padres would potentially be interested in to facilitate a deal.
The problem is that Stearns has been adamant about not trading away his top prospects, especially for a player like Cease who has one year left of team control before hitting free agency.
Both Sproat and Acuna should be in the mix for roster spots on the big-league club this year, too, which would potentially deplete some of the organization’s depth. Acuna could be in the mix for the starting third-base job this season depending on what happens with Pete Alonso in free agency. If he does not return, third baseman Mark Vientos slots over to first base and then it is open season at the hot corner between Acuna, Brett Baty, and Ronny Mauricio.
Sproat projects to be a mid-rotation option as soon as this summer, potentially as a mid-season call-up to bolster New York’s rotation. The 24-year-old right-hander made the jump from high A-ball to Triple-A in just one season last year, going a combined 7-4 with a 3.40 ERA and 1.110 WHIP between three different levels of the minors.
Perhaps if the Padres were willing to take on the expiring contract of Starling Marte, it would improve their return of potential prospects — something along the lines of Williams and another highly-regarded pitching prospect within the Mets’ system, Blade Tidwell.
