![]() That would give the Sox the infielders they need and a starter to replace Cease. Here’s what I’d offer: Christopher Morel, Luis Vázquez and Hayden Wesneski. Josh thinks they’d probably want Jordan Wicks or Cade Horton in the deal, and if so, why do it? We differ on what we think the Sox would want for Cease. I went back and forth with Josh on this over the weekend. The Sox need a second baseman (Elvis Andrus, the 2023 incumbent, is a free agent and I doubt they’re interested in a reunion). The Sox thus, obviously, need a shortstop. This is why the White Sox cut ties with shortstop Tim Anderson and are making everyone available in trades except center fielder Luis Robert – including ace Dylan Cease – as they lower their payroll. The rest of the White Sox fanbase will readily concur. “We have a talented group, there is no question, but it’s not a well-rounded club right now.” This article says the Sox are open for business, quoting GM Chris Getz: The Cubs could use a starter who throws like this. The first Cub on that list is Jameson Taillon, who ranks 45th. That average fastball speed ranked 16th among all MLB pitchers who threw at least 2,000 pitches in 2023. Cease throws hard, as shown below, but also has a good assortment of offspeed stuff: Statcast So why am I writing this article? Because Cease is still relatively young (28 next month) and perhaps, maybe, the Cubs’ Pitch Lab could get that command and control harnessed. He was second in pitches thrown in 2023 (3,262) to Gerrit Cole (3,281) - but Cease threw 32 fewer innings than Cole. He threw more than five innings in just six of those 14 starts, and six innings or more in just 14 of the 33 starts. In his 33 starts in 2023, Cease threw 100 or more pitches 14 times. He also throws a lot of wild pitches - led MLB in 2023 with 14 - and runs tons of long counts and high pitch counts. He also walks a lot of guys - four per nine innings. Yet, Cease’s peripherals remained about the same. Cease’s numbers took a tumble, all the way to a 4.58 ERA, literally twice the number of earned runs allowed from 2022 (90, as opposed to 45 in 2022). He appeared to be on the way to being a top rotation starter for years to come. It took a while, but Cease put together a 2022 season in which he posted a 2.20 ERA and 6.4 bWAR, which got him second place in A.L. Only Cease, from that deal, has given real value to the team acquiring him. Jimenez has turned into a DH who can’t stay healthy. ![]() Over the last two seasons, Quintana has pitched basically as well as he did on the South Side. In hindsight, it appears that he was injured from around September 2019 through the end of his tenure with the Cubs. They didn’t, and further, there was absolutely no indication at the time of the trade that Q would be as bad as he was on the North Side. Truth be told, if the Cubs had won the World Series with Quintana, the deal would have been just fine. (There were two other players sent to the Sox, but neither ever played in the majors, the deal was essentially Cease and Jimenez for Quintana.) (Dylan is among the book’s interviewees, which also includes the likes of Pete Townshend, Bono, and Bruce Springsteen.) While Bernie Taupin and Cyndi Lauper have rebuked Wenner, Dylan’s remark is the first instance of a friend’s public support.I’m going to interrupt the “Cubs free agent target” series briefly to post this trade idea.Ī lot of people here, as well as many Cubs fans in general, were not happy when the Cubs traded Dylan Cease and Eloy Jimenez to the White Sox for Jose Quintana in 2017. When asked in a New York Times interview why the subjects in his new book, The Masters, only included white men, Wenner said other artists weren’t “articulate enough” to be at their level. We’re trying to get him back in.” In September, Wenner was removed from the board of directors at the institution, which he co-founded years after establishing Rolling Stone, due to derogatory comments about Black and female artists. “Anyway, he just got booted out of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and we don’t think that’s right. Jann Wenner, surely everybody’s heard of him,” he said from the Beacon Theatre stage, according to audio clips. “All right, I’d like to say hello to Jann Wenner who’s in the house. Well, what did you expect from one of the seven masters? Bob Dylan has seemingly taken over the role as crisis manager for Jann Wenner, telling the crowd at his November 16 concert that he intends to get Wenner one of his old jobs back. Photo-Illustration: Vulture Photos: Getty Images
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