💥 BREAKING NEWS: New projections warn the Phillies could lose their ace to the Padres in the wake of the Dylan Cease megadeal ⚡.NL
The San Diego Padres got the news they’d been waiting for on Wednesday, something that didn’t come as much of a surprise. Right-handed pitcher Dylan Cease has decided to take his talents to the Toronto Blue Jays, a squad that just lost in the World Series a year ago.
Cease has an excellent opportunity to be one of the top starters in that Blue Jays rotation, and is also getting paid $210 million to be a part of it.
For the Padres, especially after moving on from multiple top prospects over the past few years, it almost seems like the team still has to remain competitive in some sense.
Perhaps they want to lower their payroll and, if they can do that, sign other free agents, but there’s a lot to consider here. Will Laws of Sports Illustrated doesn’t seem to think that the payroll concerns are too big an issue, predicting they’ll sign Ranger Suarez in free agency.
“The gap between Valdez and Suárez is razor thin, and you could make a strong argument for their places on this list being swapped. The Phillies stalwart is a similarly crafty lefty who has been the picture of consistency over the last four years, always posting a FIP between 3.21 and 3.90. A master of inducing soft contact, Suárez goes against the grain of the modern model starter who relies on plus stuff and seems to thrive on giving hitters a different look than they’re used to. He should solidify some contender’s projected playoff rotation,” he wrote.
Suarez and Cease obviously aren’t similar players due to Suarez being a left-hander and Cease being a right-hander, but if people are just looking at straight-up pitching numbers, it’s fair to mention that Suarez is probably a bit better at this stage.
