Breaking Down Everything Possible About The Dylan Cease Trade + A Barstool Chicago Interview With White Sox GM Chris Getz

LISTEN TO WHITE SOX GM CHRIS GETZ INTERVIEW HERE:

"One of the things that I owe the fans is to get better as fast as we can possibly get better. Speed is of the essence. I don't want this to be a long-term proposition"

- White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf on August 31st, 2023

I don't take much of what anyone in sports says when they have a microphone shoved in their face, especially GMs and execs. 99% of the time it's either a straight up lie (like when the White Sox told fans to their faces that shit would be different after dealing Chris Sale in 2016) or it's just fluff to check a media appearance box. 

A lot of people (Pedro Grifol, me, etc.) also just completely suck off the cuff. That's why I stopped taking anything front office execs or coaches say publicly with a big grain of salt. 

That's why I automatically dismissed the Reinsdorf quote above as soon as he missed it. Since that presser last August, he's done the exact opposite of trying to turn this thing around. Instead, he's directed Getz to gut payroll as much as possible and their roster has been completely flipped over to the point where Draft Kings has their 2024 win total set at 60.5 as of this morning.

Case in point: 

TL/DR: the newest rebuild isn't going to be quick. It's going to be long and excruciatingly painful for fans, and it's 100% the organization's fault. That park is going to be a ghost town for the foreseeable future and it's their own doing. They reap what they sow. 

It's so bad that I don't even want to discuss the return for the Cease deal. These are the years the organization promised they'd be investing in a team that would be competing for championships. Not talking about the return after trading their Ace with a ton of control left. 

That said, since there is literally no other option than to gut this new rebuild out - sans completely abandoning ship on the org, which I would blame nobody for - let's talk about the return.

Here it is: 

First, the headliner RHP Drew Thorpe: 

Pros: 
- changeup is one of the best pitches in baseball
- command of 3 pitches is ++ 
- "pitcher" not a "thrower" 
- High floor

Cons:
- fastball is relatively… ummm… lifeless? Sorry to be curt…
- low ceiling

Per everything I've read on this cat, he sounds a lot like Miles Mikolas with a true out pitch in his change up. I would imagine he'll find a spot in the Sox rotation quickly after dominating across two levels in his pro debut last year: 

182 punch outs in about 140 innings is amazing. Doesn't matter what level it's at. If he can miss bats with consistency at the pro-level like he has thus far throughout his short MiLB run, he'll be a guy. Not just any guy, but a guy-guy. We'll see if that happens with his "eh" fastball against MLB hitting. 

One thing I'll note is that his breaking pitch looks way better than what I've read about it, at least in this video: 

That hook has some legit bite and sharp depth to it. If he has 3 + or better pitches to pair with his average fastball, we'll be cooking with some gas. 

Next up, OF Sam Zavala: 

Pros: 
- advanced ability to decipher between balls and strikes (17.5% BB rate! in ~900 plate appearances!) 
- 19 years old
- + raw power 

Cons: 
- BIG swing and miss concerns
- may move off CF
- a TON of development to do to tap into raw power, hit tool

Position aside, Zavala is the exact opposite of Thorpe as a prospect, as he's more of a high ceiling/low floor guy. Here's a guy that could develop into a quality LH bat that stays in CF, or on the flip side a guy that fizzles out and never sniffs The Show. Those OBP numbers are really fucking crazy though, especially for a teenager: 

…as are those strike out numbers. Getz' staff will be tasked with figuring out how to reduce those gaudy swing and miss numbers. Get him to say… around 25%? We're cooking with some gas, especially if Zavala fills out into a guy that could be good for 20+ dingers YoY. 

Third piece: Jairo Iriarte

Pros: 
- those strike out numbers tho!!! MMMMM MMMMHHH!!!!!! 

Cons: 

- those walk numbers tho!!! YUCKKKKKKYYYYY!!!! 

Probably a guy destined for the bullpen. He's got time to hone his command and maybe (probably not) be a rotation piece but like…yeah…probably not. BUT MAYBE!!!! 

Psyche. He won't be….probably. 

and then we have the final piece, Steven Wilson. Steven Wilson is a 29 year old (big league) reliever who I had never heard of. He's been good for about 50IP and sub 4.00 ERA relief work in SD the last two years. I'd imagine he'll get a HEALTHY workload the first half of 2024 prior to being dealt to a team that is trying to win Major League baseball games. That trade would round out the Cease deal.

That was a lot of word salad on a trade that does nothing but piss me off as a fan. I'll reiterate: it makes me sick that the White Sox are in a position where they're dealing players like Cease instead of acquiring them. That's not to say that this isn't how they should be operating right now, because it begrudgingly probably is how they should be operating. It just sucks as a fan that ONCE AGAIN we're checking on prospect returns for the studs the team is forced to give away. 

Here's a pic my buddy took at Camelback last week: 

This is gonna look like a full house compared to Sox Park this summer. 

Hope Jerry's happy with the mess that he's made! Check back in in 2-3 years to see if any of these prospects have panned out. I wish I had this kinda confidence: