The St. Louis Cardinals are set to have one of their busiest offseasons in quite some time, or at least that is what their fans are hoping for.
It's obvious as to what St. Louis needs. They need three starting pitchers, all of whom must come from outside the organization. That may be either via trade or free agency. There are a ton of starters who will be available in free agency, but there will be some to choose from on the trade market as well.
One option could emerge with the Chicago White Sox. Dylan Cease might be on the market after a dreadful 2023 season for the South Siders. He had a bad year, going 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA in 33 starts. But he still managed to record 214 strikeouts on the season, not too much of a step down from 227 in 2022.
Cease is obviously going to be very expensive, and it's easy to see why the White Sox didn't want to part with him at the trade deadline. However, the Cardinals may have the pieces necessary to convince them otherwise.
Why the St. Louis Cardinals should and shouldn't trade for Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease may give Cardinals a legitimate ace
Should the Cardinals trade for Dylan Cease, they could very well find their ace in the hole that they have needed for quite some time. It's no surprise that after Adam Wainwright began to decline last September, the rest of the rotation followed suit. That is because there was no ace to rely on.
Though 2023 was a bad season for the young right-hander, he was second in the Cy Young race in the American League behind Houston's Justin Verlander. Cease won 14 games and posted a 2.20 ERA. He even held opponents to just a .190 batting average.
Of course, it depends on whether or not 2023 was just a fluke or a true representation of Cease as a pitcher. He's got a decent track record, so it might just be a fluke, meaning he could bounce back and be an ace again in 2024.
Cease would certainly put some fear into opponents if acquired by the Cardinals, and he would give St. Louis a much better chance of bouncing back into contention and making a run at their first World Series title since all the way back in 2011.
Cardinals: Dylan Cease is a strikeout machine
So often these days, we hear those around the game preach the importance of strikeouts as a weapon for pitchers. Cease can certainly help with that.
St. Louis needs more swing-and-miss pitchers. Cease fanned 227 batters last season and 214 more this year. Most aces around the league are able to record strikeouts and do so frequently. He averaged 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings and 11.1 per nine last year. He averaged over 12 in 2021.
It's been talked about ad naseum in St. Louis, but the pitching staff this year relied heavily on ground balls and a pitch-to-contact approach. With the shift gone, that strategy backfired on the Cardinals.
They can't afford for that to happen again in 2024, but adding Cease would give them the luxury of having swing-and-miss in their rotation. A Cy Young candidate with strikeout stuff would be a major boost for a team that finished in last place in the NL Central this year with a record of 71-91.
Cease won't come cheap by any means, but it may be worth giving up a very expensive package in order to solidify their rotation and their roster for next season.
The downside to Cardinals acquiring Dylan Cease
Of course, there are risks involved with any pitcher, and it's worth considering these risks for Cease.
As previously mentioned, he did not have a good season this year, and he has only finished with an ERA under four twice in his career. Last year was the first time he truly pitched as an ace.
It's also worth considering the package that it may take to land Cease. It would be hard to imagine the White Sox not wanting somebody like Nolan Gorman, Brendan Donovan, Tommy Edman, or even Lars Nootbaar. Jordan Walker could be someone they have interest in as well.
It would certainly cost the Cardinals some valuable assets, and they'll have to decide if it's worth giving them up for a pitcher who had a 4.58 ERA in 2023.
Strikeouts are important, but a 4.58 ERA doesn't exactly scream "ace," and that's what the Cardinals truly need. But beyond that, they really need certainty in their rotation. They need three starters, and at least one of them needs to be a top-level pitcher.
Cease could be that guy, but the cons may outweigh the pros in this situation as the Cards try to fix their pitching.
