Report: Mariners discussing Dylan Cease trade with White Sox

A new team has reportedly entered the Dylan Cease trade talks.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today in his “Sunday Notebook,” the Seattle Mariners have “quietly” entered trade talks with the White Sox for Dylan Cease. The White Sox reportedly would want a trade package centered around one of two young starters: Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo.

It had been a slow few weeks of reports on Dylan Cease, with the White Sox reportedly asking for “the sun and the moon,” per Jon Heyman, in trade talks – which led to the industry slowly moving towards the idea that Dylan Cease would open the season with the White Sox. In recent days, however, we have this Nightengale report, which follows Bruce Levine on 670 The Score in recent days stating that the chances are “virtually zero” that Cease begins the season with the White Sox.

Miller, 25, made his major league debut last season after skipping Triple-A entirely. The right-hander made 25 starts, going 8-7 with a 4.32 ERA/3.98 FIP in 131.1 innings. His 22.2% strikeout rate was well below what he had been posting in the minors, but his minuscule walk rate of 4.8% would certainly be of interest. Miller features a six-pitch mix, with his fastball (58.5%), slider (19%), sweeper (8.5%), and sinker (7.6%) serving as his main pitches while also featuring a changeup and curveball. His fastball has a strong vertical movement profile, though the rest of his pitches could use further development. Prior to the 2023 season, Miller appeared on both Baseball America’s (#100) and MLB Pipeline’s (#98) Top 100 Prospects list.

Woo, 24, also made his major league debut last season after skipping Triple-A entirely. In 18 starts, he went 4-5 with a 4.21 ERA/4.36 FIP. Like Miller, he also saw his strikeout rate drop from over 30% in the minors to 25.1% in the majors, though his walk rate remained steady at 8.4%. He features a five-pitch mix of a fastball (47.2%), sinker (25.2%), cutter (16.1%), slider (7.8%), and changeup (3.7%). The strength of his arsenal is primarily in its horizontal movement, with his cutter and slider both featuring horizontal movement profiles well above average.

Both Woo and Miller figure to be mid-to-back end options in the rotation for the Mariners – partially due to last year’s production, but also partially due to the strength of their starting rotation with Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby. If there is one team that certainly has the resources to pull off a starting pitching-based trade that doesn’t feature solely prospects who haven’t seen time in the majors, the Mariners could do it.

In terms of other options: the Mariners certainly have a strong minor league system. Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America’s’ latest top 100 list features four Mariners players, though their lists are a bit different. The similarities, however, are Cole Young (SS), Harry Ford (C), and Colt Emerson (SS), with Lazaro Montes (OF) and Gabriel Gonzalez (OF) making appearances on Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, respectively. So, outside of Miller and Woo, they certainly have plenty to offer to make this work.

Also listed in Nightengale’s report was the fact that talks with the Orioles on a Dylan Cease trade have stopped. It is unclear if talks may pick up again with the Mariners now in the mix.

One thing is for sure: the Mariners are not a team afraid to make a trade. Should more information become available, we will continue to provide updates.

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Featured Image: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports