The White Sox reportedly had no intention of keeping Dylan Cease. Throughout all the trade rumors this offseason, talks of an extension never came up.
“We would have loved to have Dylan Cease for longer than two years,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz told MLB.com. “But it wasn’t realistic to be able to keep him in a White Sox uniform.”
For years the White Sox strategy revolved around locking up their young talent to long-term deals early. It’s a strategy that makes sense for a team historically unwilling to dish out big money for top-of-the-line free agents.
It is also a strategy that has mostly backfired. Yoan Moncada, who is now eating 20 percent of the team’s payroll, posted an OPS+ of 97 last season. Eloy Jimenez will be making 13 million this season. Given his production on the field over the last several seasons this looks like a slight overpay.
An argument can be made that Dylan Cease and Luis Robert Jr. were the only two prospects still on the White Sox roster that lived up to their full potential. Both of them will demand hefty contracts once they hit the open market.
An extension for Cease would have made sense. Jerry Reinsdorf claimed he hired Getz to turn around the White Sox fast. The fastest way to get back toward winning would be to retain your best pitcher. By extending Cease, Getz would have an ace to anchor the rotation as he tried to make the roster competitive again. Cease was also coming off a down year, which might have helped with his price.
It’s a price that would have been expensive regardless. The Scott Boras client finished runner-up in the 2022 AL Cy Young voting and struck out a career-high 214 batters the following season. Instead of paying the price the White Sox rolled the dice, flipping Cease for a package that included two young pitchers that the White Sox hope will one day turn into a pitcher of his caliber.
It was a solid return. But not the overwhelming haul many had hoped for when reports of Getz’s high asking price surfaced over the offseason. Given the current state of the roster, it makes sense why the White Sox wanted to bolster their farm system. Trading Cease was the best way to do that.
Now the attention turns to Robert. Robert is coming off the best season of his career, where he was named to his first All-Star team and took home a Silver Slugger Award.
Robert is locked up through 2027, which includes two club options worth $20 million. Given the way the White Sox handled Cease with two years left on his deal, it is highly unlikely they resign. The Cuban outfielder is in line to make well over $100 million on the open market given his career trajectory.
Will Robert be the White Sox’s first 100-million-dollar man? The White Sox told opposing general managers that Robert was not available during the offseason. It will be interesting to see if they take a similar approach to the one they took with Cease once it becomes time to pay his club option.
