5 way-too-early NY Mets trade deadline targets to familiarize ourselves with

3) Dylan Cease

The San Diego Padres have long been rumored to move Dylan Cease during the offseason. It doesn’t seem like it’ll happen before the start of the regular season, but given the ace right-hander is in the last year of his contract, a slow first-half start for the Padres could lead to Cease’s name reappearing in trade talks at the deadline.

Cease rebounded from a poor 2023 with the Chicago White Sox, posting a 3.47 ERA, 3.10 FIP, and 1.07 WHIP. The right-hander has always struck out a ton of batters, and 2024 was no different with a 29.4% K%. Cease has consistently struggled to limit free passes, however 2024 was different. He had just an 8.5% BB%, the lowest of his career by far. Although Cease only had an 0.86 HR/9 rate, he was still prone to hard contact, allowing an 89 MPH exit velocity and 8.5% barrel percentage.

After losing a tick of velocity in 2023, Cease averaged out at 97 MPH with his fastball, the same fastball velocity he was at during his 2022 Cy Young finalist season, as well as his 2021 breakout campaign. This led to a huge uptick in Stuff+ from 104 in 2023 to 111 the next season. His Location+ was also a career-high at 102, and it was the first time he had ever been average or better in this statistic. 

Cease ended the 2024 season fourth in Cy Young voting and even received down-ballot MVP votes. He is a very reliable arm, having started at least 32 games in each of the previous four campaigns. Cease is the sort of arm that a contender adds to round out their rotation and add a true ace before heading into the playoffs.