The recent Bob Nightengale report that the Seattle Mariners have entered the Dylan Cease sweepstakes breathes new life into Dylan Cease starting opening day for a different MLB team. All along, people were sure that Cease would not be on the White Sox Opening Day roster, as it seemed very likely that a trade would occur before then. As of late, it seemed increasingly likely that he would be on the White Sox on Opening Day and that they would try to trade him at the deadline. That would be bad for a multitude of reasons, but now with this report, it seems that it is up in the air as to whether Dylan Cease will be on the White Sox on Opening Day.
Luckily for the White Sox, the Seattle Mariners would be a fantastic trade partner. Not only do they have four top 100 prospects, but they are also loaded with young talent, specifically pitching. In Bob’s report, he mentions how the White Sox could seek a trade centered around one of their young pitchers, Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo.
This would be a solid start to a deal, but with the asking price sitting where it is, there is no doubt that the Mariners will need to throw in more to get the job done.
First, starting with the young pitchers, it would be a toss-up. On one hand, one could say that Bryan Woo is more valuable as he is about a year younger than Miller, so he would fit in better with the timeline. But, Miller showed more control with his pitches in his debut. Either way, they both looked very solid in their debuts last year, so if the White Sox value them about the same, you should always opt for the younger pitcher.
In 87 innings last year, Woo had a 4.21 ERA with 93 strikeouts to 31 walks. Miller, on the other hand, threw 131 innings, pitching to a 4.32 ERA, and had 119 strikeouts to 26 walks. Miller had much more command of the strike zone, so that could be a strong reason for the White Sox to take Miller over Woo.
Regardless of which of the two is included in the deal, the Mariners will likely need to add at least two more players. The Mariners have a trio of position player prospects that the White Sox would likely be interested in.
The first is Cole Young, who MLB Pipeline ranks as the 37th prospect in all of baseball. He was the Mariners first-round pick in 2022, a high-school middle infielder prospect. Young hits for average and gets on base, but isn’t much of a power threat. He profiles better at second base and could easily take over as the second basemen of the future for the White Sox.
Next, the White Sox could be interested in Gabriel Gonzalez, an outfielder who is ranked 79th overall on MLB Pipleline’s list. He just turned 20 and has already shown the potential to be a very good well-rounded player that can hit for power and steal some bags. As a 19-year-old in the lower minors, he hit 18 home runs and drove in 84 runs. Those are very good numbers for a player his age, and his ranking will likely only rise over the next few years. He is a bit further away from the pros than some of the other prospects on the list, but he should be one of the main targets of the White Sox.
The White Sox could also target middle infielder prospect Colt Emerson, who is ranked as the 87th-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline’s new list. He was Seattle’s first-round pick in last year’s draft and played very well in his minor league debut last year. He hit for average, walked as much as he struck out, and had a lot of extra-base hits. He lacked the homerun power, but he could grow into that as he develops in the minors. He is only 18, so he is a bit away from the major leagues at this point.
If the White Sox could get some combination of Woo/Miller and then add Gonzalez and Emerson, that would be an absolute haul. I am not sure how likely the Mariners would be to part with two of their top prospects and a young pitcher, but that seems to be the asking price at this point. If the Sox cannot get both, they will likely get one of the three, one of the pitchers, and another top-7 Mariners prospect.
Hopefully, the Sox and Mariners can get the job done, as they have plenty of young, promising talent the White Sox can choose from.
