Dylan Cease trade update: Yankees eye White Sox pitcher if Yoshinobu Yamamoto pursuit falls through, per MLB analyst

Ace pitcher Dylan Cease is still up for grabs. The New York Yankees are monitoring his movements in the free agency market. They hope to sign him should they miss out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, per Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic.

"The Yankees are among teams monitoring Dylan Cease if they miss out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, per Ken Rosenthal" - TalkinYanks

Despite having the second-worst ERA of his career (4.58) in his final season, Cease tied for the AL lead. He has 33 starts and recorded his third consecutive season of more than 200 strikeouts. Cease, at his finest, is a Cy Young contender. In 2022, he lost to Justin Verlander in the running for the award, recording a 2.20 ERA with 227 strikeouts in 184 innings pitched.

Chicago's wisest course of action would be to trade Cease. He is arguably at the top of his value and has several years of control remaining.

"After watching this video of Dylan Cease pitch from this perspective, I am probably not making contact 99% of the time" - RotoGrinders

Dylan Cease: A Cy-Young-worthy pitcher

Cease still has above-average speed and bat-missing ability in 2023, even though his run prevention was not especially good in that season. Even though he wasn't as good as in 2022, fielding-independent measures (3.72 FIP, 4.10 SIERA) felt he was better than his middling ERA.

He has started every game for the previous four seasons, indicating he is a dependable and durable pitcher. Cease still has a lot of trade value when you factor in MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz's fair projected salary of $8.8 million.

"Amazing pitch sequence from Dylan Cease to strike out Shohei Ohtani. 86 mph slider, 73 mph changeup, 96 mph fastball" - CHGO_WhiteSox

In 2023, the 27-year-old kept giving out free passes at a less-than-spectacular pace, but it became harder to pitch around those walks as his opponents' batting average increased from .190 to .250.

Even though his walk rate is still better than that of other exceptional starters, pitching in front of a stronger defensive team could result in better overall results. This is because his batting average on balls in play also increased from .260 to .330. The Yankees could benefit from adding a rocket arm, but the asking price for Cease may restrict a potential trade deal.

"If the Yankees miss out on prized free agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they reportedly have their eyes set on White Sox starter Dylan Cease as a backup" - kenny_sports