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Dylan Cease is one of the best starters in baseball
Entering the 2022 season, there was a lot of buzz that Cease was going to breakout out in a big way. Before debuting in 2019, he was a top prospect in all of baseball, and the 2021 season saw Cease post an elite 12.3 SO/9 in his first full season. And boy, was that buzz right about Cease.
Last season, Cease went 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA and 227 SO in 184 innings while finishing second in the American League Cy Young voting. He recently turned 27 and has a bright future within the game today. Cease became arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason, and will not be a free agent until after the 2025 season.
Cease would give the Cardinals a bonafide ace to lead their rotation, one with the kind of strikeout stuff their rotation sorely lacks at the moment, and under club control for multiple seasons. Finding this kind of starter is rare in today's game, and acquiring such a starter will cost the club a lot of resources.
Luckily for St. Louis, they are probably the best-positioned club in baseball for such a trade.