Quote from Jeremy Hill on March 12, 2024, 8:14 pm

From Rosenthal's latest on the new batch of Dylan Cease rumors.

The Dallas Morning News reported that White Sox scouts have “descended in droves” upon Rangers camp this week. Multiple members of the White Sox’s front office have scouted the San Diego Padres in similar fashion, sources said.

The question for the Rangers is whether they would be willing to meet the White Sox’s desired return, which according to sources is in the range of these three players, if not them specifically: utility man Ezequiel Durán and pitching prospects Brock Porter and Jack Leiter.

Quote from fenn68 on March 13, 2024, 3:47 am

Quote from Jeremy Hill on March 12, 2024, 8:14 pm

From Rosenthal's latest on the new batch of Dylan Cease rumors.

The Dallas Morning News reported that White Sox scouts have “descended in droves” upon Rangers camp this week. Multiple members of the White Sox’s front office have scouted the San Diego Padres in similar fashion, sources said.

The question for the Rangers is whether they would be willing to meet the White Sox’s desired return, which according to sources is in the range of these three players, if not them specifically: utility man Ezequiel Durán and pitching prospects Brock Porter and Jack Leiter.

That return seems a lot lighter than earlier rumors of the CWS demands … maybe the CWS are getting more motivated to make a deal and found no team willing to go to the level of the initial demands.

Now I am not as excited about getting two years of Cease as most but at something equivalent to the suggested Texas level … maybe.

Quote from BoosterSD on March 13, 2024, 9:01 am

So MLBTR just reported that Preller has inquired about Cease recently. If the package proposed of Ezequiel Durán and pitching prospects Brock Porter and Jack Leiter from TEX is close which is TEX #4 and #8 SP prospects and Duran. Would the equivalent from SD be Thorpe, Iriarte, and Rosario? We would still keep Lesko, Snelling, and other SP candidates. Could even add in Avila and/or Morejon to outbid TEX and NYY.

And if thats the case, would you pull the trigger on Thorpe, Iriarte, and Rosario for Cease?

Quote from Randy Manese on March 13, 2024, 10:23 am

I'd rather include Vasquez or Mazur than Iriarte, but 2 years of Cease (if he's close to his 2022 season version) would be good.  He's had a very good spring and is affordable in arbitration this year and next.  Thorpe has shown well and could one day be just as good as Cease but we do have a few others in the pipeline who are better, so I'm very tempted to pull the trigger even with Iriarte.  This would give us 2 FA (King/Cease) pitchers after the 2025 season and maybe we can keep one of them unless of course we hit the jackpot and land Roki Sasaki after the 2024 season.

Quote from fenn68 on March 13, 2024, 11:10 am

The three names from TEX suggested is surprisingly underwhelming considering that TEX has a pretty good top line prospects ... leading here with Porter (somewhere in the 80s of Pipeline prospects) a prospect in Leiter that is "fading" a bit (not really living up to expectations) and Duran who is going on 25 and basically a poor fielding SS/3B/LF who is projected to be a slightly below average hitter.

If they were so motivated the Padres should be able to top that without significantly damaging the farm. Sort of depends on how the CWS view the players (not likely as I do or the Padres do).

1. Thorpe (close in ranking) ... or Snelling or Lesko
2. Mazur ... or Iriate ... at this point may be better prospects than Leiter
3. ??? ... the offset to Duran is a bit of a question although Rosario seems similar ...

A mix and match of one in category 1 and one in category 2 to get balance with the TEX names then do better for the 3rd name or add a 4th but less compelling prospect. Would love for them to be happy with one of the out of option types but more likely a player they don't have to keep around until ready.

Given that adding Cease for two years really clogs up the SP #1-4 ... might the Padres try to preserve at least one of the better prospects and get the CWS to bite on Waldron who would step right in to their SP and gives 6 years control ... that also may lessen the quality of the #3 or a need for a fourth piece.

Still ... not sure those three TEX prospects really reflect the end result or is that ...through back channels by CWS ... setting up low to get more teams bidding and ultimately pushing up the price?

Quote from fenn68 on March 13, 2024, 2:30 pm

Padres are … in my mind … in the playoff hunt with this roster … but with Cease they could not only be favorites for the playoffs but rolling out Musgrove, Cease, and Darvish is a short series would make them real candidates to go deep (if not to the WS).

Winning NOW knowing that Bogaerts and Machado are aging (as are Musgrove and Darvish) might be motivation to make the trade … also is a sense a tribute to Peter Siedler.

Padres have the prospects … especially pitching. Again don’t know what the Padres think of each prospect’s ceiling and usually not fully aligned with rankings.

Musgrove and Darvish are controlled for 4 and 5 years respectively … King for 2 years … if they add Cease for 2 years … that covers the first four slots for 2024-25. Padres have a deep stable of prospects that will be ready in 2025-26 with 6 year control once they arrive. That should be a lot of trade potential.

A wild card is also Sasaki … just how much confidence do the Padres have in signing him next winter? I know his status is a bit different than the Latin players BUT it was “known” that Salas and DeVries would sign with the Padres well before the window opened … could the Padres have used the back door channels to get some understanding of his signing? If so, he could take that #5 slot (for 6 years) if they sign Cease.

In that scenario what to do (besides trade for Cease) with all these prospect arms:

3.  Snelling (MLB #36)

4. Lesko (MLB #56)

5. Thorpe (MLB #85)

8. Iriate

10. Mazur

13. Bergert

15. Vasquez

**. Brito

**. Waldron

That is 8 prospects with 6 years control … low cost … clearly all will not develop into stars and some may end up in the pen … but that is a workable surplus to get Cease and still in 2026 have a strong trio of SP candidates (duo if they sign Sasaki).

Enhance winning in 2024-25 by gambling a bit on the future? This might be the right time.

Quote from fenn68 on March 13, 2024, 4:20 pm

Padres Finalizing Deal For Dylan Cease

By Anthony Franco | March 13, 2024 at 6:15pm CDT

The Padres are finalizing a trade for White Sox’s ace Dylan Cease, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (on X). The return isn’t clear. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reported this morning that San Diego and Chicago had recently discussed Cease.

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Stuff happens quickly.

Quote from Randy Manese on March 13, 2024, 4:31 pm

This is a big get!  Hope we didn't give up either Snelling or Lesko.  Salas, Merrill and DeVries are untouchable but we have a lot of trading pieces that won't sink the farm system.

Quote from sportwarrior on March 13, 2024, 4:34 pm

Quote from Randy Manese on March 13, 2024, 4:31 pm

This is a big get!  Hope we didn't give up either Snelling or Lesko.  Salas, Merrill and DeVries are untouchable but we have a lot of trading pieces that won't sink the farm system.

I'm guessing Marsee, Lesko, and maybe someone like Bergert who could step into the rotation soonish.

Whatever the return, I feel like a majority of these "controllable" acquisitions have been backfires in some way or another (Soto, Clevinger, Hader, etc). It's conditioned me into feeling anxious and uneasy and scared about what we're giving up.