A Realistic Pitching Ace And What It Will Take to Acquire Him

[BirdMan]

I agree we are going to need a true # 1 top of the rotation pitcher. Fried is not going to be available in my opinion. 

I do think there is a #1 starting pitcher that should be available. That being said you are not going to be able to trade a bag of balls and bats to land one. The pitcher I have in mind is Dylan Cease. The White Sox need to go into a full rebuild ( which we all know takes 4 to 5 years ) Cease at 27 is to old to wait 5 years before the White Sox are close to contending. Okay guys don't yell at the messenger. I think It would take G. Henderson and K. Stowers. To get him. Cease is a 27 year old with three years remaining under team control. He makes 5.7 million a year. A perfect Oriole fit.

Why would we give up Henderson, you ask? He is never going to be the starting short stop on the orioles. We have Mateo now that is a much better fielder. Holliday is maybe 2 to 3 years away and is also a better fielding short stop. This means that Gunnar is destined to be our third baseman. At this point Gunner appears to be a below average to average third baseman. I am not saying he will not improve with time. I think we have better fielding prospects than him on the farm and I think equal hitters. 

I think Jordan Westburg at third and Dylan Cease make the Orioles a much better team now and in the future. 

Stowers is easily replaced.

The White Sox will need Gunnar because they also need to trade Tim Anderson who will garner them three or so high prospects.

The Oriole management has done a great job of putting us in the position to be able to make a trade like this. We are going to have to give up good quality players to get top flight pitching and depth. 

[Frobby]

What makes you think Holliday is a better fielding SS than Henderson?

[Bemorewins]

24 minutes ago, BirdMan said:

I agree we are going to need a true # 1 top of the rotation pitcher. Fried is not going to be available in my opinion. 

I do think there is a #1 starting pitcher that should be available. That being said you are not going to be able to trade a bag of balls and bats to land one. The pitcher I have in mind is Dylan Cease. The White Sox need to go into a full rebuild ( which we all know takes 4 to 5 years ) Cease at 27 is to old to wait 5 years before the White Sox are close to contending. Okay guys don't yell at the messenger. I think It would take G. Henderson and K. Stowers. To get him. Cease is a 27 year old with three years remaining under team control. He makes 5.7 million a year. A perfect Oriole fit.

Why would we give up Henderson, you ask? He is never going to be the starting short stop on the orioles. We have Mateo now that is a much better fielder. Holliday is maybe 2 to 3 years away and is also a better fielding short stop. This means that Gunnar is destined to be our third baseman. At this point Gunner appears to be a below average to average third baseman. I am not saying he will not improve with time. I think we have better fielding prospects than him on the farm and I think equal hitters. 

I think Jordan Westburg at third and Dylan Cease make the Orioles a much better team now and in the future. 

Stowers is easily replaced.

The White Sox will need Gunnar because they also need to trade Tim Anderson who will garner them three or so high prospects.

The Oriole management has done a great job of putting us in the position to be able to make a trade like this. We are going to have to give up good quality players to get top flight pitching and depth. 

Sign me up if that's all it cost. Yes it will ABSOLUTELY suck to have to give up Gunnar. HOWEVER, we have a piece will a similar profile in Holliday (uber talented, 5 tool, LH with great plate disciple). But what we don't have is anything close to Cease at the moment. We HOPE Grayson can get there one day, but for now he is a young guy making the big jump and having predictable struggles.

If one wants to argue that this is not the year for our roster to optimized, I agree wholeheartedly! Our best teams will include Holliday, Kjerstad, and Cowser as a part of the current group. However, even when we infuse all of that talent, we will still need MORE pitching. And the opportunity to acquire talents like Cease don't come around all of the time. Look around at the game and standings now, with the added wildcard and with the bottom teams having no true desirable commodities except for few exceptions (CHI SOX, MIA?, DET and STL), who would from the Nats, Royals, Giants, As, Rockies would make a real difference for us? I only including the Cards in the first list because of their superstar 1B and 3B (which we really don't need though they would be great luxuries), other than that, I don't really desire anything else they have. Maybe Flahrety? But I would much rather take Cease. DET has Eduardo, but other than that, again who do they have that is worth trading for?

[Can_of_corn]

43 minutes ago, BirdMan said:

I agree we are going to need a true # 1 top of the rotation pitcher. Fried is not going to be available in my opinion. 

I do think there is a #1 starting pitcher that should be available. That being said you are not going to be able to trade a bag of balls and bats to land one. The pitcher I have in mind is Dylan Cease. The White Sox need to go into a full rebuild ( which we all know takes 4 to 5 years ) Cease at 27 is to old to wait 5 years before the White Sox are close to contending. Okay guys don't yell at the messenger. I think It would take G. Henderson and K. Stowers. To get him. Cease is a 27 year old with three years remaining under team control. He makes 5.7 million a year. A perfect Oriole fit.

Why would we give up Henderson, you ask? He is never going to be the starting short stop on the orioles. We have Mateo now that is a much better fielder. Holliday is maybe 2 to 3 years away and is also a better fielding short stop. This means that Gunnar is destined to be our third baseman. At this point Gunner appears to be a below average to average third baseman. I am not saying he will not improve with time. I think we have better fielding prospects than him on the farm and I think equal hitters. 

I think Jordan Westburg at third and Dylan Cease make the Orioles a much better team now and in the future. 

Stowers is easily replaced.

The White Sox will need Gunnar because they also need to trade Tim Anderson who will garner them three or so high prospects.

The Oriole management has done a great job of putting us in the position to be able to make a trade like this. We are going to have to give up good quality players to get top flight pitching and depth. 

I don't know that.

I know it took the O's that long.

[webbrick2010]

It's too early to speculate, and it will take more than Gunner Henderson & Kyle Stowers to get a #1 starter

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, webbrick2010 said:

It's too early to speculate, and it will take more than Gunner Henderson & Kyle Stowers to get a #1 starter

That depends on the contract situation of the pitcher in question.

[oriole]

I have a hard time believing Elias would make a big move like this. He is as risk averse as they come and has yet to make any bold moves. He is smart and calculated, yes and it’s worked swimmingly thus far. But he is not going to be jumping in the deep end anywhere anytime soon. I see him targeting someone like Montgomery on the Cardinals or Giolito with the White Sox. Someone who he can send a good, but redundant piece for. 

[ShoelesJoe]

This season Dylan Cease has been a mediocre starter on a bad team. If he was '72 era Steve Carlton and winning his games while everybody else was losing that would be one thing. But one of the main reasons the White Sox are cratering in 2023 is because Cease has been about as bad as everybody else on their staff. If you think we can fix him then fine, make an offer. But be warned that Chicago's asking price will probably be based on what he was rather than what he is right now. 

[Bahama O's Fan]

If you were Chicago's GM, what would you demand from the O's?

[Sanity Check]

11 minutes ago, oriole said:

I have a hard time believing Elias would make a big move like this. He is as risk averse as they come and has yet to make any bold moves. He is smart and calculated, yes and it’s worked swimmingly thus far. But he is not going to be jumping in the deep end anywhere anytime soon. I see him targeting someone like Montgomery on the Cardinals or Giolito with the White Sox. Someone who he can send a good, but redundant piece for. 

I could even see him going after a Lance Lynn, Patrick Corbin or Mile Mikolas.  And I could also see the OH going nuts......not in a good way.

[ThomasTomasz]

12 minutes ago, oriole said:

I have a hard time believing Elias would make a big move like this. He is as risk averse as they come and has yet to make any bold moves. He is smart and calculated, yes and it’s worked swimmingly thus far. But he is not going to be jumping in the deep end anywhere anytime soon. I see him targeting someone like Montgomery on the Cardinals or Giolito with the White Sox. Someone who he can send a good, but redundant piece for. 

Montgomery and Giolito make the most sense based off who they were alleged to have been targeting this winter……which I don’t think helps us very much.  We need a true #1, not another mid-rotation starter.  

[ShoelesJoe]

1 minute ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

If you were Chicago's GM, what would you demand from the O's?

Initial demand? Holliday, Henderson, Westburg, and Cowser. 

And that's when the real negotiations start. 

[Sanity Check]

1 minute ago, ThomasTomasz said:

Montgomery and Giolito make the most sense based off who they were alleged to have been targeting this winter……which I don’t think helps us very much.  We need a true #1, not another mid-rotation starter.  

I don't believe that Elias will part with the prospects that will be required in order to get a true #1.

[ThomasTomasz]

1 minute ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

If you were Chicago's GM, what would you demand from the O's?

For Cease?  Henderson, Cowser and Westburg/Norby.  I believe he has three more years of control, and the Padres emptied their farm for 2.5 years of Juan Soto.  Cease would be the best young starting pitcher to become available in recent memory, so it wouldn’t take MLB pieces necessarily like it did for Soto (i.e. Abrams and Gore) but it would be a prospect-heavy package.

[ThomasTomasz]

1 minute ago, Sanity Check said:

I don't believe that Elias will part with the prospects that will be required in order to get a true #1.

Oh I agree 100%.  If they didn’t want to allocate the funds for a true #1 like Verlander, I don’t see them emptying the farm for one either.