MLB Insider lists the Braves as a favorite for Dylan Cease

MLB Insider Bob Nightengale dropped a few notes at the bottom of his most recent USA Today article, they would be easy to miss if you are just skimming through the bottom of the post, but there are a few juicy tidbits there. One of those tidbits is Nightengale saying that “Atlanta and Baltimore are the current favorites to acquire Cease.”

The Atlanta Braves have been linked to Dylan Cease multiple times this off-season as his name has been thrown around in Braves country for a month or more. Atlanta would have to trade for Cease and the asking price has been rumored to be very high for him. Just how much would he be worth to AA? Is he worth giving up one of either A.J. Smith-Shawver or Bryce Elder AND Hurston Waldrep?

Even if you trade for him, you will only have control of him until 2026, as that is when he will become an unrestricted free agent and the bidding war will start for his services. Cease finished 2023 with a 7-9 record and a 4.58 ERA. Neither of those stats is the best in the world, but that doesn’t mean that Cease doesn’t have great “stuff”.

In 2022, Cease had a 14-8 record with a 2.20 ERA as he struck out 219 hitters and walked 79 in 177 innings. The value of Cease would depend on what we have to give up to obtain him. I can’t sit here and act like adding Cease to a rotation of Fried, Strider, and Morton would not be enticing, though.