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Dylan Cease was recently traded to the San Diego Padres. What is the fantasy baseball impact of this move and what is his outlook as a Padres starting pitcher?
The San Diego Padres recently acquired starting pitcher Dylan Cease from the Chicago White Sox. The Padres gave up Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte, Samuel Zavala, and Steven Wilson to get Cease as they started preparing for life without Blake Snell.
Cease, a sixth-round draft pick from the 2014 MLB Draft, made his MLB debut in 2019 and has risen up through the ranks of elite starting pitchers. Although he is coming off a down year in Chicago, the 28-year-old ace has the potential to be one of the best at his position.
How does a move to San Diego affect Cease? Let's take a look at his fantasy outlook for the upcoming season.
Dylan Cease 2024 Fantasy Baseball Outlook
In his last year with the White Sox, Dylan Cease played 33 games in which he had a record of 7-9. In those games, he pitched 177 innings while giving up 172 hits, 19 home runs, and 214 strikeouts with an ERA of 4.58.
He averaged 10.88 strikeouts per nine innings, and while his numbers pale in comparison to Blake Snell's from last year, Cease did have a better year in 2022 than Snell. In 2022, the former White Sox star had the best year of his career. During that season, he played 32 games, pitched 184 innings, and recorded 227 strikeouts while having an impressive ERA of just 2.20.
With a better-supporting cast in San Diego this year, Cease is expected to have a better season. Padres' pitching coach Ruben Niebla has often brought the best out of his pitchers, and it wouldn't be a surprise if Cease goes on to have the best year of his career in 2024.
The Milton High School product is under contract at least until 2026. Until then, he will be a solid option in the Padres rotation while the likes of Dylan Lesko and Robert Snelling continue to develop in the minors.
First look at Dylan Cease in a @Padres uni 👀 #SeoulSeries pic.twitter.com/zAxiPfc4Z6
— MLB (@MLB) March 16, 2024
San Diego Padres Rotation For 2024 Season
The potential loss of reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell will be tough to deal with for the Padres, but they have still managed to put up a decent rotation for the 2024 season. Currently, their starting rotation looks like this
- Yu Darvish
- Joe Musgrove
- Dylan Cease
- Michael King
- Jhony Brito
The NL West franchise doesn't have a single left-handed starting pitcher in their rotation yet, which hints that general manager A.J. Preller could make some more moves. However, even if they don't get another pitcher, Snelling is a left-handed option who might make his major league debut in 2024.
The Padres begin their season against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 20th. Yu Darvish will take the mound for them in the first game, followed by Joe Musgrove to end the series in South Korea.
Yu Darvish on getting the Padres opening day start in Korea: "Obviously very happy and honored about this. I've never been to Korea before, so that makes it even more special."
More from Darvish after his Cactus League start earlier today: pic.twitter.com/QFu8TkncTE
— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) March 11, 2024
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