The hopes of a Dylan Cease trade supplementing and augmenting the White Sox farm system are growing fainter, as a growing number of reporters are detecting no heat -- or at least low heat -- with regards to any possible deal.
It might be the product of a phenomenon that's not Cease-specific. On Twitter, CespedesBBQ tallied the number of free agents who remained unsigned on Jan. 18 in each of the last two years. The answers will not surprise you.
- 2022-23: 3
- 2023-24: 21
It's also been noteworthy that multiple teams in need of starters have instead cut corners by stretching out bullpen arms. The Braves originally intended to do that with Reynaldo López, although the addition of Chris Sale might change the math a little. The San Francisco Giants are definitely doing it with Jordan Hicks, the Cincinnati Reds with Nick Martinez, and the Toronto Blue Jays with Yariel Rodriguez.
MLB.com's Mark Feinsand surveyed the market for top remaining pitchers of all kinds, and it appears nobody is willing to meet prices. Here's what he said about Cease in particular:
“I would say Cease doesn’t get moved at this point,” an NL executive said. “The White Sox are not budging on price, and teams don’t seem to have interest in paying that price.”
Which was a sentiment backed up by Buster Olney ...
... and Jon Heyman:
There’s growing belief the White Sox could hold onto Dylan Cease until the trade deadline. The Orioles have the best prospects but don’t want to part with top infield prospect Jordan Westburg.
That being the case, you might be able to lock in the White Sox's top prospects lists, more or less, which might come as a relief trying to write names down in pen instead of pencil.
Without a blockbuster trade to rattle the rankings one more time, the White Sox system will probably finish in middle of the pack. While the Sox placed three prospects on Baseball Prospectus' Top 101 list:
- Colson Montgomery (11)
- Noah Schultz (57)
- Edgar Quero (78)
They only placed two on Baseball America's Top 100 list:
- Colson Montgomery (15)
- Noah Schultz (40)
Yet there are two items of good news with regards to the latter list.
The first is that the BA staff really wants to see Schultz throw enough innings to warrant further hype. He has everything going for him besides that, which is why he merited mention among players who are poised to rocket up the rankings:
Schultz’s 2023 season began and ended with injuries. First, a flexor strain delayed his season debut until June. After 10 starts, he landed on the IL with a shoulder impingement. In between, with the exception of a lone disaster start, he was untouchable. Schultz posted nothing but zeroes in his other nine outings and used a combination of deception and stuff to manhandle opponents in short bursts. His sinker and slider each are potential plus offerings—the slider garnered an absurd whiff rate of 50%—and his changeup could get to above-average as well. He finished the year with 38 strikeouts in 27 innings. If he can stay healthy, he could vault into the conversation of the best pitching prospects in the sport.
BA's evaluators also listed two White Sox prospects among the players who just missed the cut, and neither was the prospect you might expect. Consistent with the top 10 White Sox prospects list, Nick Nastrini and Bryan Ramos edged out Quero. Nastrini has three plus pitches, with only control lapses standing in his way, while Ramos continues to perform admirably at every level without any fatal flaws.
While Quero finished on the outside looking in, even after accounting for those who are on the outside looking in, Baseball America did publish a quick feature on the team's catcher of the future from Scot Gregor.
