PHOENIX — The White Sox finally made a deal for Dylan Cease.
After months of trade talks and rumors, they sent their ace right-hander to the Padres for three prospects and right-hander Steven Wilson, who appeared in 52 games in relief for San Diego last season.
The Sox are receiving three of the top players in the Padres’ farm system, per MLB Pipeline: right-handers Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte, the Padres’ Nos. 5 and 8 prospects, respectively, and A-ball outfielder Samuel Zavala, ranked seventh.
The trade was made official Wednesday night.
Cease had been on the block since the offseason as the Sox rebuild following a miserable 101-loss season. General manager Chris Getz fielded offers from multiple teams for Cease, who has two years of club control remaining. Getz rejected numerous offers before pulling the trigger 15 days before Opening Day.
Here’s what he’s getting in return in a deal most industry observers view as a good trade for both teams:
Thorpe: MLB Pipeline’s Pitching Prospect of the Year in 2023 after he finished with a 2.52 ERA and a minor-league-high 182 strikeouts in 139⅓ innings between High-A and Double-A. The No. 85 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, was part of the Juan Soto trade in December. He has low-90s velocity but an excellent changeup and is regarded as a strike-thrower.
Iriarte: The 22-year-old split last season between High-A and Double-A. His command is not as sharp as Thorpe’s, but he posted a 3.49 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate, using a fastball-slider combination delivered from a three-quarters arm slot.
Zavala: A power hitter who can play center field. Zavala, who’s only 19, hit .243/.391/.406 with 14 home runs and 21 stolen bases between both levels of A-ball.
Wilson: He adds an arm with two years of major-league experience to an uncertain bullpen. He posted a 3.06 ERA in 50 games in 2022 and a 3.91 ERA in 52 games last season. This spring, Wilson has appeared in six games without allowing a run, yielding three hits but walking seven while striking out 10 in six innings.
Without Cease, the Sox figure to name Erick Fedde their Opening Day starter, underscoring the iffy composition of a rotation filled with question marks. Fedde, signed to a two-year, $15 million deal in the offseason after being named the Korean Baseball Organization’s player of the year last season, had a 5.41 ERA in six seasons with the Nationals.
The rotation also includes right-hander Michael Soroka, a former Braves All-Star who’s coming back from two Achilles ruptures; free-agent signee Chris Flexen, who was 2-8 with a 6.86 ERA between the Rockies and Mariners last season; and possibly 2020 first-round draft choice Garrett Crochet, who has pitched only in relief and is coming back from Tommy John surgery and shoulder problems. Michael Kopech, who owns a 5.43 ERA in 30 games, including 27 starts last season, is trying to claim a starting job.
Cease, meanwhile, joins the Padres — who sought an ace-caliber piece because of their expected loss of Blake Snell in free agency — just in time for their trip to South Korea for the Seoul Series with the Dodgers.
Nonstop questions to Getz and Cease carried into spring training and didn’t affect Cease’s pitching in any way. After allowing one run and two hits with eight strikeouts in 3⅓ innings against the Reds in his third Cactus League start Tuesday night, Cease again answered questions about the latest trade talk Wednesday morning. He handled it calmly and collectively.
“I’m like a fan with it, just seeing what’s going on,” Cease said. “This rumor or that rumor. The only thing I want is to perform well.”
He no longer will perform for the Sox, who acquired him with Eloy Jimenez from the Cubs for left-hander Jose Quintana in 2017 in one of the building-block trades for the Sox’ last rebuild that produced a wild-card berth in 2020 and an American League Central title in 2021.
“Everybody here knows the business, knows what this is about,” manager Pedro Grifol said Wednesday morning.
Cease, 28, went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA over 33 starts last season. Outfielder Peyton Burdick was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
