Chicago White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease took a step back in his 2023 campaign. After finishing second in the AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022, Cease’s ERA ballooned more than two runs and he led the league in wild pitches and was sixth in walks. 

But MLB teams see the upside in a starter who doesn’t miss his turn in the rotation, showcased his potential in ’22, and is just going into his Age 28 season. He had two years of team control through arbitration before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2026. 

The White Sox, more in a rebuilding phase than a contending phase, have made it clear they’d listen to calls for Cease – and they’re receiving plenty of them. 

Bookies.com veteran oddsmaker Adam Thompson has researched the MLB landscape and updated MLB odds as to where Cease plays his home games in 2024. 

Dylan Cease 2024 Team Odds

After going 13-7 with a 3.91 ERA for the White Sox in 2021, Cease had a breakout campaign in 2022, going 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA. He finished second to Justin Verlander in the AL Cy Young voting. 

While 2023 didn’t go as hoped, Cease was still solid enough to show he can be an effective starter in the league. That he’s led the league in starts in two seasons and finished one off the pace in the third, indicated he’s a workhorse and a plug-and-play starter that all teams should crave. 

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Per The Athletic, more than a dozen teams have inquired about Cease. MLB insider Bob Nightengale indicated there’s a 90% chance Cease gets moved this off-season. 

The White Sox are saying the right things, for now. “There’s certainly no urgency to move Dylan Cease,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said during the December winter meetings. “... Dylan’s a star in our game. There’s no real reason to come here and expect us to move Dylan Cease, but if a team brings something that meets a threshold that we feel we’ve just gotten a lot better, then we’re going to do that.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers were considered an aggressive suitor for Cease in early December. With the additions of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, and with Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler likely to return as well, the Dodgers have amassed a cache of No. 1 starters. They could certainly still go after Cease but are no longer the favorites they were before free agency flipped a few scripts. 

The Dodgers’ farm system is still stocked; offering the White Sox value shouldn’t be an issue. 

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The Cincinnati Reds have jumped from strong underdogs to favorites. Cincy had a bottom-10 pitching staff but a young batting lineup that could smack the ball, and their 82-80 mark showed the Reds could be on the verge of being a real contender. Cincy is looking at the trade market to improve the starting rotation. Cease would fit the Reds’ modest budget. 

Many of their top players came from their farm system, leaving the cupboard slightly barer. But there are pieces in the minors, and young bats in MLB as well, who could make a trade work. Cincy recently balked at the high asking price for Cease which included three players ranked among the top 70 of all minor leaguers. Most teams seem to agree Chicago will eventually lower its demands. 

The asking price seems to be the sticking point for the Atlanta Braves, who are on a quest to bolster their rotation. Bids for Sonny Gray and Aaron Nola didn’t work out, so the best course of action may be on the trade market. The Braves don’t have the farm prospects the Dodgers do, but may have more available, MLB-ready talent to send. It depends on what direction the White Sox prefer to take. 

A front-line starter with two years of team control at a below-market price opens the floodgates for teams who want to contend but can’t afford the Jacob deGroms and Max Scherzers of the world. 

The Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins fit that category. The White Sox aren’t dealing with the rival Twins, and the Rays appear traded Glasnow to the Dodgers, so they’re unlikely to be adding Cease. The O’s make a lot of sense. They won 101 games last year but fizzled out in their opening playoff series. 

Cease could be the No. 1/2 starter (alongside Kyle Bradish) at a relatively cheap price with two years of team control. When it comes to players worth trading, the Orioles’ minor league system ranks No. 1 in some circles. There are prospects to move.

 The New York Yankees, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers all could use front-line help, but each seems to have other fish worth frying more. It wouldn’t be a huge shock to see any of those teams make a play, especially the Mets and Giants. 

The Field includes the Yankees and Rangers, as well as the San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels, teams that could be looking to boost their rotations via a trade rather than in free agency.