Perhaps some of you would view a Cubs signing of Dylan Cease as something that would “right a wrong” — that is, Cease was a major part of the deal that brought José Quintana to the Cubs, and Quintana generally wasn’t very good on the North Side, while Cease went on to have some very successful years with the White Sox and Padres.
Thing is, though, while Cease does have a couple of top-five Cy Young finishes in his resume, and one 6.4 bWAR season, he’s also had some years where he was pretty ordinary.
That includes 2025, when Cease put together a pedestrian 1.1 bWAR season with a 4.55 ERA and 1.327 WHIP.
That’s not really ideal when you’re entering your walk year, but here we are.
Even while posting those numbers, Cease led MLB in walks per nine innings in 2025 at 11.5. That translates to an overall K rate of 29.8 percent, which is… really good! The Cubs don’t have anyone on their staff right now who can strike out hitters like that, and also no starter who throws a fastball like this:
Cease is also durable. Since he came to the major leagues with the White Sox in 2019, he has not missed a single start, and has at least 32 starts in each of the last five seasons. That’s 162 starts over that span — the only MLB pitcher with that many. (Kevin Gausman, Logan Webb and José Berrios are second with 158.)
Cease turns 30 next month, so 2026 will be his age-30 season.
Honestly, that’s not unreasonable for a pitcher of Cease’s talent and ability. If he could ever put two good years in a row together, he’d be one of the best starters in MLB. He’ll almost certainly be healthy for those six seasons, though of course injuries are unpredictable.
Jed Hoyer probably won’t do that. Further, there is now a factor working against the Cubs signing Cease — he was one of 13 recipients of a qualifying offer yesterday. So the Cubs would have to surrender a draft pick to sign him. I can’t see Hoyer doing that.
This series will continue on Monday.