Sometimes when you bet on yourself, it ends up working out. Other times, you end up cratering your professional value like Dylan Cease has.
The once-promising right-hander from Metro Atlanta first cut his teeth in the big leagues with the Chicago White Sox before coming over to the San Diego Padres last season. While he has never been an All-Star, he has two career top-five finishes for the Cy Young.
This past offseason saw Cease re-up with the Friars during his final year of arbitration.
After going 14-11 with a 3.47 ERA in 33 starts last season, Cease is a disastrous 3-10 with 4.59 ERA in 21 starts for the 2025 Padres. He may have signed a one-year deal worth $13.75 million this past offseason in arbitration, but this Scott Boras client is about to make a whole lot more ahead of next season, though certainly not based on his 2025 results. Where will he go?
Heading into this season, Cease was on the trade block. Despite the Padres being in the thick of it in the NL Wild Card race, he finds himself on the trading block again.
Although he seems like a good fit for his hometown Atlanta Braves in the short, medium and long-term, there is one problem with a trade at this time. Who will Atlanta give up? AJ Smith-Shawver is hurt and Drake Baldwin is off limits.
This is why the Braves’ best chance to land Cease is ahead of next season, and not during this one.
Atlanta Braves need to wait until this offseason to sign Dylan Cease
This does not have to be this hard, but here we are. Cease may be approaching 30 years old, but he is not going to make the same amount of cash he just got in his final year of arbitration.
I can see it now. Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos is doing cartwheels in his ivory tower overlooking Truist Park. I can hear his spiky hair scraping the carpet hundreds of feet above the ole Cobb Cloverleaf.
When I think back to what all has gone wrong for the Braves this season, I often tend to forget that they have not had a healthy starting rotation at all this season. Spencer Strider missed the first month and change. Reynaldo Lopez provided the team one start.
Smith-Shawver is going to be out for a while with a torn UCL. Even rotation focal points Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach missed time.
What I am getting at is Cease could become available to help round out the rotation headlined by Sale, Schwellenbach and Strider with Lopez still on the mend, and Smith-Shawver definitely still on the mend. Grant Holmes has been okay at times, while Bryce Elder throws batting practice nonsense.
Is Cease better than what the Braves have now? At this time, no, but he feels poised to bounce back.
Ultimately, Cease may be available now at an incredible discount, but any trade package from the Braves centered around NL Rookie of the Year candidate Baldwin is out of the question. Prospects usually do nothing for me, but there are exceptions.
The last time I felt this way about a prospect, there was a teenager out of the tiny Caribbean island Curaçao by the name of Andruw Jones in 1996.
In a perfect world, Baldwin catches for Cease next season, as the Braves make their return to glory.
