Yoshinobu Yamamoto is now off the board, and some dominoes are sure to start falling. Dylan Cease might be among them.
Yamamoto reportedly agreed to a 12-year, $325 million deal with the Dodgers late Thursday night as Los Angeles’ remarkable winter continues. With the top free agent pitching no longer available, the market for high-end pitching talent is thin, with Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery the best remaining options.
It’s expected that the trade market could be busy, however, with aces in Cease, Corbin Burnes and Shane Bieber all in rumors this winter. Audacy MLB insider Jon Heyman said Friday on Mully & Haugh that Cease’s market could start heating up.
“They needed to wait for Yamamoto to come off the board. He was the apple of everybody’s eye, and now Cease looks pretty darn good, right?” Heyman said. “Two years of control, Bieber’s only got one year, Burnes has only got one year. He answers the bell, the guy does not get hurt. He’s basically at 32 starts every year.
“He wasn’t as good this past year, but they should be able to get a ton for him if they trade him, which I do think they are actively talking to teams. Now that Yamamoto is off the board, I think that will heat up.”
The Orioles boast a robust farm system and are among the teams linked to Cease. If the White Sox are going to get a haul for the hurler, then doing business with Baltimore and plucking some of its top prospects could really bolster Chicago’s prospect pool.
“I don’t think (the Orioles are) going to trade (Jackson Holliday), he’s a can’t miss, several hundred million dollar player at some point,” Heyman said. “They’re not going to trade him, they’re not going to trade Gunnar Henderson, but Baltimore has so many good players, that (Jordan Westburg) kid is very good too. They’ve got a ton of guys, that’s the team that I would focus on.
“Cincinnati’s got good prospects as well, the Dodgers still have good prospects -- but I guess we don’t want to see him go to the Dodgers, they have enough good players. I think if they get four of the top 10 prospects, first of all it depends on the team, but if it’s Baltimore, that’s a hell of a trade. If they can pull that off I’d tip my hat to them.”