SURPRISE, Ariz. — It’s Sunday. Do you know where your place of employment is?
The average citizen has a fairly good idea, which lends a level of comfort to everyday existence. Dylan Cease is not average, and not just because of his stature as the 2022 American League Cy Young runner-up and as a front-of-the-rotation pitcher.
Cease has been on the trade block since before Christmas, and here we are 2½ weeks into spring training, and he was still wearing a White Sox uniform in a Cactus League game Saturday against the Rangers.
He looked very familiar, going two scoreless innings, the first lasting nine pitches (seven strikes) and the second lasting 24. In all, he threw 19 of his 33 serves for strikes.
Cease struck out one and walked one. He allowed two hits and came away repeating what he has said since the first day of camp, that he can’t recall feeling this good this early in spring training.
“It was really solid,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a great spot for this early in the year, and we’re trending in the right direction.
“I wasn’t quite automatic, but for the most part, I was throwing a lot of strikes, the stuff was really sharp.”
Cease touched 97 mph with his fastball, and he said his slider was so crisp that he had to recalibrate where he was aiming.
“So that was a good sign,” he said.
“Just good velo [with the slider]. You can see it when it’s kind of exploding, the way the batters react when you’re getting swings and misses and weak contact.”
The assumption months ago was Cease, who has two years of team contract control left, would be dealt by now. The Sox are rebuilding after losing 101 games last season, and general manager Chris Getz is seeking a package of prospects, perhaps with a major-league-ready pitcher, in a deal for Cease.
But the free-agent market has been slow, with top free agents Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell still out there. Teams might be holding out for those Scott Boras clients (Cease is with Boras, too) to be had before going to the Sox for a pitcher who would thin their inventory of young players.
“I’ll be honest with you: I haven’t followed it,” manager Pedro Grifol said of trade rumors. “Dylan’s here; he’s in our uniform; he’s our Opening Day starter. I have a smile every time I see him.”
There hasn’t been much to follow in recent days.
“I don’t even know if there is any right now,” Cease said. “But I don’t really care.”
Cease is on the Sox for now, and he talked up a rotation of himself, Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka, Chris Flexen and Michael Kopech — with Garrett Crochet knocking at the door as he gets stretched out. It’s a group almost everyone sees as full of question marks.
“I’m excited for this rotation,” Cease said. “I think a lot of people are sleeping on us. You see the way the ball is coming out of [Kopech’s] hands. Garrett is nasty. Fedde is super-nasty; he locates well. This team has a ton of potential.”
Perhaps. Anyone can dream in spring training. If Cease is dismissed from that group, though, the dreams won’t be so sweet.
Stay tuned.
