The case for Dylan Cease

Morning Dose: Friday, January 31

☀️ Good Morning:

We’ve reached the point in the offseason where any day could bring shocking news that drastically changes the way we look at the 2025 roster.

Many fans have been waiting for David Stearns to add the finishing touches to his offseason plans.

When you look at the current roster, past the shiny new addition of Juan Soto, you see some question marks, but you also see the makings of a playoff team.

Is there one more transaction that could put them over the top?

Is that re-signing Pete Alonso? Is it trading for Dylan Cease?

☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!

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⚾️ Trading for Dylan Cease

The Mets are talking to the Padres about top-line starter Dylan Cease (as well as Michael King), as first reported by Pat Ragazzo and confirmed by Jon Heyman.

• Contract: Cease is entering the final year of arbitration and is due to make $13.75 million before becoming a free agent in 2026.

• Results: The 29-year-old right-hander went 14–11 with a 3.47 ERA over 189.1 innings last season. His 4.8 WAR ranked fifth best in all of baseball.

Adding Cease would slot the rest of New York’s starters in proper position in what would suddenly become a very deep rotation.

1. Dylan Cease

2. Sean Manaea

3. Kodai Senga

4. Frankie Montas

5. David Peterson

6. Clay Holmes

You can win a playoff series with an effective Cease, Manaea and Senga leading the way.

⏎ What would it take to trade for him?

Corbin Burnes represents a template for a potential trade. While Cease has never reached the heights of Burnes, they are pretty similar pitchers at this point in their respective careers. Burnes was traded last February to the Orioles a year before he hit free agency.

The package: The Orioles traded two major-league ready prospects (infielder Joey Ortiz and left-hander DL Hall) and a 2024 Competitive Balance Round A Draft pick to acquire the former Cy Young Award winner.

• Ortiz was a Top-100 prospect (ranking 63rd on MLB Pipeline’s list at the time of the trade). He didn’t have a future in Baltimore with the organization overflowing with positional players atop their system.

• Hall was a former top prospect whose maturation was slowed by injuries. Once seen as a potential starter, he profiles more as a middle reliever now.

• The Competitive Balance pick turned into University of Tennessee first baseman Blake Burke, who has excellent power but is still a long way from becoming a regular MLB player.