Trade Pitch Sees Yankees Acquiring $13.7 Million Starter in 4-Player Blockbuster

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Trade pitch has Yankees acquiring Dylan Cease.

The New York Yankees have already added to its rotation, but one trade pitch has them adding another star.

FanSided MLB analyst Thomas Carannante proposed a deal that would see the Yankees acquiring Dylan Cease from the San Diego Padres in a four-player blockbuster.

Yankees acquire:

Dylan Cease

Padres acquire:

Clarke Schmidt
Everson Pereira
Jorbit Vivas

The proposed deal would be a blockbuster as the Yankees would acquire Cease for an MLB pitcher and two prospects.

Cease is in the final year of club control as he avoided arbitration by signing a $13.75 million deal. He’s projected to sign a five-year $108 million deal according to Spotrac. Cease went 14-11 with a 3.47 ERA in 33 starts with the Padres in 2024.

In return, the Yankees would deal Schmidt who could replace Cease in the Padres rotation. Schmidt is set to earn $3.6 million and has two more years of club control after 2025. Schmidt went 5-5 with a 2.85 ERA in 16 starts for the Yankees in 2024.

Pereira is New York’s 10th-ranked prospect. He played in Triple-A in 2024 hitting .265 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs.

Vivas, meanwhile, is the Yankees’ 17th-ranked prospect. He signed in 2017 as an international free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers but was dealt to New York in 2023. He’s expected to compete for an MLB roster spot this spring training.

Analyst Explains Yankees-Padres Deal

Cease’s name has come up in trade talks and he’s expected to be dealt.

With Cease in the final year of his deal, Carannante doesn’t think the Padres will be able to get a haul for him.

“Cease is a rental and isn’t an extension candidate due to his reported desire to hit free agency,” Carannante wrote. “The Yankees wouldn’t have to surrender a whole lot, and it would give them financial flexibility next offseason with another deal coming off the books.

“What’s stopping the Yankees from offering Clarke Schmidt, Everson Pereira and Jorbit Vivas? Or some variation of that where the Padres replenish Cease’s spot in the rotation and get prospect value for the infield/outfield after the departures of Ha-Seong Kim and Jurickson Profar?,” Carannante added.

By adding Cease, the Yankees rotation would then feature Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Cease, and Luis Gil, with Marcus Stroman likely to be traded.

With that, Schmidt isn’t needed for New York but is a young pitcher for San Diego to help replace Cease.

Padres Likely to Deal Cease

San Diego has yet to sign a player to an MLB contract as the Padres are clearing salaries.

The Athletic’s Dan Hayes and Dennis Lin reported that rival executives expect the Padres to deal Cease.

“The Padres, who still have multiple needs after missing out on a potential ace in Roki Sasaki, are currently projected to be over the luxury tax threshold,” the article read. “The Padres would like to keep Cease, but some rival officials believe president of baseball operations A.J. Preller ultimately will have little choice but to move the pending free agent and his $13.75 million salary.”

San Diego acquired Cease in March of 2024 from the Chicago White Sox.

Cole Shelton Cole Shelton covers the NHL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton