The San Diego Padres acquired reliever Steven Wilson and right-hander Dylan Cease in a trade with the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday for three prospects: right-handers Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte, and outfielder Samuel Zavala.
Cease, who turned 28 in December, was second in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022 after going 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA. He went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA for a White Sox team last year that went 61-101.
He agreed to an $8 million, one-year contract in January and is eligible for free agency after the 2025 World Series.
Cies is 43–35 with a 3.83 ERA in 123 major league starts over five seasons, striking out 792 and walking 79 in 658 innings. He has a 2.16 ERA in 8 1/3 innings in three spring training starts this year.
Padres general manager AJ Preller said the teams began talking about a deal at the beginning of the offseason when there were reports that the White Sox would listen to offers for Cease.
“He’s got Cy Young votes and views. that lasts. He’s a power pitcher who can strike you out,” Preller said. “When you look at guys who can dominate a game or a season, he’s on a short list of guys who can do that.”
Last season he averaged 95.6 mph on his fastball, which he threw on 43% of his pitches. He also throws a slider (39%), curveball (15%) and splitter (3%).
San Diego is having a disappointing season. Favored to compete for the postseason with a team-record Opening Day payroll of nearly $258 million, the Padres slipped to an 82–80 record and missed the playoffs. San Diego traded star outfielder Juan Soto to the New York Yankees in December. R.
Cease joins a rotation that includes Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove. The Padres will play the Los Angeles Dodgers in their season opener next Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea. The Padres’ flight to Seoul was not scheduled to take off Wednesday night and Preller said the team would decide in the next 24 hours whether he would join the team there.
“We see him as a front-of-the-rotation-type starter and he fits in well with our group,” Preller said. “Adding really quality starting pitching, it’s always very attractive. We want to get to a situation where every day we’re putting someone out there that we feel good about in the matchups and I think Dylan Cease definitely helps us get there.
Wilson, a 29-year-old right-hander, is scheduled to make his big league debut in April 2022. He was 1-2 with a 3.91 ERA in 52 relief appearances last year, striking out 57 and striking out 27 in 53 innings. He is 5-4 with a 3.48 ERA in 102 games over two seasons.
Thorpe is ranked the Padres’ No. 5 prospect by MLB.com. The 23-year-old pitcher was selected in the second round of the 2022 amateur draft and acquired by the Padres from the Yankees in the Soto trade. He went 14-2 with a 2.52 ERA at Class A Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset last season, striking out 182 and striking out 38 in 139 1/3 innings.
Zavala, San Diego’s No. 7 prospect, will turn 20 in July. He hit .243 with 14 homers, 77 RBI and 21 stolen bases last year for Class A Lake Elsinore and High-A Fort Wayne.
Iriarte, the No. 8 prospect, is a 22-year-old who was 3-4 with a 3.49 ERA last year for Fort Wayne and Double-A San Antonio, striking out 128 and striking out 45 in 90 1/3 innings.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the White Sox also designated outfielder Peyton Burdick for assignment.
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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum and AP Sports Writer Bernie Wilson in San Diego contributed to this report.
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