One of the pitchers who is still connected to the Baltimore Orioles through trade is Dylan Cease. The Chicago White Sox, Cease’s team, just stated their demands, and the Orioles aren’t now interested in accepting that price.
However, what if there had been another, possibly less obvious, avenue for the Orioles to get Cease?
The Los Angeles Dodgers were spending over $1 billion on trades and free signings back in December. In the end, the Dodgers acquired Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Manuel Margot in exchange for pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and superstar Shohei Ohtani.
However, The Athletic reports that the Dodgers were also on Cease before to acquiring Yamamoto and making the trade for Glasnow. Infielder Michael Busch was one of the players that the Dodgers included in possible deals. He was the No. 2 prospect for the Dodgers.
When the Dodgers traded Busch to the Chicago Cubs last week, it made headlines.
The White Sox ultimately failed to bite. When you consider recent reporting by USA Today that the White Sox want either Colton Cowser or Heston Kjerstad in a trade, it’s evident the White Sox want a substantial payoff to sell Cease, a previous Cy Young contender with two years of team control.
Here’s the twist, though. After bringing Yamamoto in, the Dodgers continued to discuss Cease with the White Sox. However, the goal might not have been to acquire more MLB pitchers. It could have been to present future prospects to another organisation in order to acquire them.
According to what The Athletic said:
The Dodgers’ transaction with the Cubs suggested that they were searching for value in the future. They talked about trading Cease to a different team (the Orioles being one option) in order to acquire prospects.
Was there any chance the Orioles could have gotten Cease that way? We’ll never be aware of it. The White Sox have set the price for Cease with the Orioles, and the Cubs now own Busch. As of right now, nobody appears to be willing to budge.
You are all aware of the outcome when Jake finally found his footing in the middle of 2015. He recorded an ERA of 0.86 and a WHIP of 0.701 during his last 20 starts, starting with a shutout of the Twins. He also famously hit as many home runs (two) as he allowed during that span. He concluded with 22 victories, a 1.77 ERA, four complete games, three shutouts, 8.3 bWAR, and the Cy Young Award. That included a no-hitter against the Dodgers. Perhaps the best pitching season in Cubs history is this one.
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