White Sox trade RHP Dylan Cease to Padres for four players

March 14 (UPI) -- The Chicago White Sox traded right-handed pitcher Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres in exchange for three top prospects and pitcher Steven Wilson, the teams announced.

The Padres and White Sox confirmed the trade Wednesday.

"It's hard to give up the names that we gave up," Padres general manager A.J. Preller said, according to MLB.com. "We think very highly of Drew Thorpe, [Jairo] Iriarte, [Samuel] Zavala and Wilson.

"But a guy like Dylan Cease was the right pitcher at the right time for this team."

Cease, 28, went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA over 33 starts last season for the White Sox. The five-year veteran logged at least 214 strikeouts in each of his last three seasons.

Cease went 14-8 with a career-best 2.20 ERA and 126 strikeouts over 32 starts in 2022. He owns a career ERA of 3.83 with a 43-35 record over 43 appearances. The sixth-round pick by the White Sox in the 2014 MLB Draft was the runner-up to Justin Verlander for 2022 American League Cy Young Award honors.

White Sox pitchers logged the fifth-worst ERA (4.87) in MLB and third-worst in the American League last season. Their starters logged a 4.88 ERA, the third-worst mark in the American League.

Padres starters led MLB with a 3.69 ERA last season. Their entire pitching staff logged a 3.73 ERA, the second-best mark in MLB, trailing only the Milwaukee Brewers (3.71).

The White Sox will receive some of the Padres' star prospects in the swap. Thorpe, a right-handed pitcher, was the Padres' No. 5 prospect and ranks No. 85 in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. Zavala, an outfielder, was the Padres' No. 7 prospect. Iriarte was ranked No. 8 in the Padres' system.

Thorpe, 23, was a second-round pick by the New York Yankees in 2022. He joined the Padres in December as part of the Juan Soto trade. Thorpe went 14-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 23 minor league starts last year.

Zavala, 19, hit .243 with 14 home runs, 21 stolen bases and 77 RBIs over 115 minor league appearances in 2023. The Venezuelan left-handed hitter hit .263 with 25 home runs and 37 stolen bases over 213 total appearances in the Padres' farm system.

Iriarte, 22, went 3-4 with a 3.49 ERA over 27 minor league appearances last season for the Padres' Double-A and Advanced-A affiliates in 2023. The right-handed Venezuelan went 8-18 with a 5.03 ERA over 72 appearances at all minor league levels.

Wilson, 29, was an eighth-round pick by the Padres in 2018. He made his MLB debut in 2022, when he went 4-2 with a 3.06 ERA over 50 appearances, mostly as a relief pitcher.

The right-handed pitcher went 1-2 with a 3.91 ERA over 52 appearances last season for the Padres. He went 5-4 with a 3.48 ERA over 102 appearances in his first two MLB seasons.

The White Sox will host the Los Angeles Angels in a spring training game at 4:05 p.m. EDT Thursday in Phoenix. Padres prospects will face Seattle Mariners prospects in a spring breakout game at 3:10 p.m. Friday in Peoria, Ariz.

The Padres will host the Los Angeles Dodgers at 6:05 a.m. Wednesday in Seoul in the first game of the 2024 MLB regular season. They will face the Dodgers again the next day in the South Korean capital before returning to spring training.

The White Sox will host the Detroit Tigers in their regular-season opener March 28 in Chicago.