From last season to now, the Boston Red Sox's biggest need has been starting pitching. As Red Sox Nation knows, said need has gone mostly unaddressed this offseason.
And even though any true starting pitcher could make Boston's current rotation better, the Chicago White Sox's exorbitant price for Dylan Cease placed him firmly out of reality for the stingy Red Sox.
The San Diego Padres gave Chicago four players in exchange for Cease. After losing Blake Snell to and Michael Wacha to free agency this winter, San Diego was desperate to make a deal for pitching that wouldn't cost money.
The Padres sent prospects Drew Thorpe, acquired from the Yankees in the Juan Soto trade earlier this year, Jairo Iriarte and Samuel Zavala and big-league reliever Steven Wilson to Chicago. Thorpe, Iriarte and Zavala were the No. 5, No. 7 and No. 8 prospects in San Diego's system, respectively.
Dylan Cease never would've been a fit for the Red Sox based on the White Sox's price
The Padres projected starting rotation after trading for Dylan Cease 👀 pic.twitter.com/bJ5LT47nrT
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 14, 2024
The Padres don't have as much MLB-ready talent in their system as the Red Sox do, and any deal Boston could've approached Chicago with likely would've favored the White Sox more.
Bleacher Report predicted that Boston would've had to give up prospects Nick Yorke, Wikelman Gonzalez and Yoeilin Cespedes for Cease. While Yorke and Cespedes are trying to crack the big leagues in the Red Sox's already crowded infield and they wouldn't be huge losses, Gonzalez is one of their only pitching prospects. Going the home-grown route seems to be the priority for Boston's future as of now, and trading one of the system's only pitchers was never going to work for the front office, which has been notoriously stingy with the farm in recent years.
MLB.com's trade proposal also included Yorke, along with Roman Anthony, newly-acquired pitching prospect Richard Fitts and longtime Woo Sox Bobby Dalbec. It even floated substituting Kyle Teel into the deal — trading Anthony is a hard no for Boston from the jump, but trading Anthony and Teel would simply never happen, especially for Cease, who's only had one great year in his five-year career.
Cease has thrown over 210 strikeouts in the last three seasons and he led the American League in starts in 2021 and 2023, but the Red Sox are dedicated to the fifth year of their rebuild and the players in the farm system. Cease would make the Red Sox better, but they're too set in their ways to make any big trades involving prospects.