The Boston Red Sox appear set with their starting rotation. If anything, they might have too much starting pitching depth, depending on the health of Lucas Giolito and the development of prospects like Richard Fitts.
But should that stop them from exploring a trade for San Diego Padres ace Dylan Cease, who’s been named in rumors throughout the offseason? In a piece published Wednesday, Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors made a case for the Red Sox pursuing a Cease trade.
“Boston hasn’t made the big free-agent splash that many expected, but it’s hard to say that any team that acquired Garrett Crochet hasn’t invested in bolstering the rotation. Crochet joins Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, free agent signee Walker Buehler and (eventually) a returning Lucas Giolito in a deep and talented Red Sox rotation mix. You could argue the Sox don’t need to further augment the group, but Buehler is a rebound candidate and Giolito could be on some kind of set workload. Even if that’s not the case, a September (and hopefully for Craig Breslow & Co., October) rotation scene including Crochet, Cease, Giolito, Houck and Buehler could be overpowering.
“Crawford wilted considerably down the stretch, but he has four years of control remaining and is earning just $2.75MM this season. Depth arms like Quinn Priester, Richard Fitts and Cooper Criswell could all hold appeal to the Padres as well. None of that group has reached arbitration. Criswell is controlled for five more years. Priester and Fitts can be controlled for six. The Sox aren’t giving up Jarren Duran or Ceddanne Rafaela for a year of Cease, but would they consider selling high on Wilyer Abreu? They could turn to an outfield stopgap like Randal Grichuk or Mark Canha to give them a right-handed bat while leaving the door open for uber prospect Roman Anthony to seize a regular job sooner than later.”
Acquiring Cease, who has one year left on his contract, would give Boston one of baseball’s best rotations.
The 29-year-old finished second in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2022, when he was with the Chicago White Sox, and fourth in National League Cy Young Award voting last season when he was with the Padres. Cease went 14-11 with a 3.47 ERA, 1.067 WHIP and 10.6 strikeouts-per-nine-innings ratio in 33 starts.
With all that said, the Red Sox appear more focused on landing a quality bat to balance their lefty-heavy lineup.
