MLB Trade Rumors: White Sox's Dylan Cease Drawing Interest from Dodgers, Braves, More

The Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers and "several" other teams are "engaged in trade talks" with the Chicago White Sox regarding starting pitcher Dylan Cease, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Cease, 27, was 7-9 in the 2023 season with a 4.58 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 214 strikeouts in 177 innings. It was a bit of a down year for the starting pitcher after he was excellent in the 2021 and 2022 seasons and was the AL Cy Young runner-up in 2022.

The White Sox, meanwhile, were miserable last year, going 61-101 as they continued to regress after making the playoffs in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. A rebuild is coming, especially after owner Jerry Reinsdorf fired executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn in August.

Moving a player like Cease—who is arbitration-eligible in both 2024 and 2025—would fetch the team a solid return and help restock the farm system for such a rebuild. That makes him a logical trade target for contenders around baseball, namely ones in desperate need of bolstering the starting rotation like the Braves and Dodgers.