Because Gerrit Cole underwent an MRI on an elbow that's not recovering between outings like usual, it made sense for the Yankees to check on the status of Dylan Cease. It's been almost a month since Chris Getz was fielding questions on if the Orioles' interest in Cease was renewed by Kyle Bradish's UCL sprain, and we were due for a new episode.
When Bob Nightengale said on Tuesday morning that the Yankees made a "new proposal" that still didn't include Spencer Jones, it struck me as a rerun. The Yankees might be able to compile a package that gets the job done without him, but trading Jones is the shortest distance between two points. Anything else would require a much lengthier conversation that hasn't yet born any sort of fruit.
Apparently, it turns out some lengthier conversations have taken place, but the Yankees aren't the only team involved. They might've restarted the Dylan Cease derby, but the Rangers were drafting behind them, and slingshotted ahead of them by the end of the day.
First, Evan Grant of the Dallas News said White Sox scouts had "descended in droves" on Rangers camp this week, which added a fresh layer of color to the proceedings.
On the White Sox's side, Pedro Grifol signaled something was different this time. Grifol has been asked about Cease plenty over the last several months, and his answers always centered on what he can control. For example:
“He’s throwing ‘pens, he doesn’t have any soreness, he’s excited about this club. He’s excited about the guys we’ve acquired, excited about our catching. … If [a trade] happens, he understands the business, but like I told him and he told me, right now he’s our Opening Day starter and [he’s getting] ready.” [...]
“Trades are hard to pull off. Everybody has to be comfortable with those. We’ll see what happens, but right now he’s our Opening Day starter, and I’m happy about that.”
This time, Grifol reacted with less stoicism:
(It makes one think that Grifol wouldn't make the greatest flight attendant. "Is this kind of turbulence normal?" "I don't know. I mean, how am I supposed to know that? I don't know what's happening out there," as he straps on a parachute...)
And then Ken Rosenthal took it to yet another level. He added the Padres as another team the White Sox have scouted heavily before identifying a potential return from Texas ...
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.
... and then capped it off by saying the White Sox are engaged in talks with Michael Lorenzen as a potential replacement for Cease, which would constitute a veto-proof majority of Michaels in the White Sox rotation.
That's a lot of scuttlebutt from a lot of different reporters over a 12-hour period, but it's hard to say how close it is. The White Sox were adamant from the outbreak of Tuesday morning's rumors that Cease would make his scheduled 6:05 p.m. local time start, and sure enough he struck out eight Reds over 3⅓ innings. Cease told reporters after the game that Getz had informed him about the rumors, reinforcing the idea that he can compartmentalize with the best of them.
As for the potential package reported by Rosenthal, if that's all the White Sox wanted, I'd figure the Rangers would've stopped Cease from making his start. They all look like players worth watching -- especially since the jury's out on how pitching prospects, particularly ones as walk-addled as these, will respond to the arrival of Brian Bannister -- but none of them are close to a Jones-level ask. Duran's most useful as a utility player, while the White Sox would be running the risk of buying high on Porter, and buying late on Leiter.
All in all, it'd be a strangely anticlimactic conclusion to five months of rumors, especially since Cease is having the spring everybody would want to see, as the stars are aligning in other camps to spike the demand. However, if that's a deal the White Sox are dangling for other teams to top, there's room to beat it without being unreasonable.
