Drew Thorpe

White Sox Designate Jake Eder, Dominic Fletcher For Assignment

By Steve Adams | March 27, 2025 at 10:53am CDT

The White Sox announced this morning that they’ve designated left-hander Jake Eder and outfielder Dominic Fletcher for assignment. They’ve also placed righty Drew Thorpe on the 60-day injured list while he recovers from Tommy John surgery. That trio of moves clears the way for righty Mike Clevinger, infielder Nick Maton and outfielder Travis Jankowski to be selected to the big league roster. (Maton and Jankowski were already known to have made the club.) All three had been non-roster invitees in camp this spring.

Eder, 26, was a fourth-round pick by the Marlins out of Vanderbilt back in 2020. He was considered one of the best prospects in Miami’s system when the Sox acquired him in a straight-up swap for slugger Jake Burger back at the 2023 trade deadline. Prior to Eder requiring Tommy John surgery late in the 2021 season, he’d even begun to garner some attention on midseason iterations of top-100 prospect rankings at Baseball America (No. 68) and MLB.com (No. 81).

At the time of the trade, Eder was just making his way back from that UCL repair. He’d pitched 39 1/3 innings in the Marlins’ minor league system and showed well. He was rocked in five starts with the White Sox’ Double-A club following the swap, but for a then-24-year-old just returning from major surgery, it wasn’t necessarily a shock to see him fade down the stretch.

Eder’s 2024 struggles, however, were more concerning. The left-hander split last season between Double-A and Triple-A, working to a combined 6.61 earned run average with glaring command troubles. Eder fanned a quality 24.4% of his opponents but also walked 11.6% of the batters he faced — including a sky-high 16.1% of his opponents in nine Triple-A starts. He also plunked five hitters and was charged with 10 wild pitches. His spring work wasn’t any better; Eder faced 13 hitters in 2 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on a pair of hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Fletcher, 27, came over from the D-backs last offseason in a one-for-one swap that sent pitching prospect Cristian Mena to Arizona. He got a decent look in the South Siders’ outfield but turned in only a .206/.252/.256 slash in 241 trips to the plate. He’d been coming off a strong 2023 showing that saw him hit .291/.399/.500 in Triple-A and .301/.350/.441 in 102 plate appearances during his MLB debut.

Fletcher not only struggled in the majors, however, but also hit poorly in the minors. He clearly fell out of favor, as the Sox instead signed both Mike Tauchman and Michael A. Taylor to big league deals, pushing Fletcher down the depth chart. Even with Tauchman opening the season on the injured list due to a right hamstring strain, Fletcher didn’t make the cut and now is off the 40-man roster entirely.

The Sox will have the next five days to trade Eder and/or Fletcher. If no deal is reached by then, the pair would be placed on waivers, which is another 48-hour process. Either could be waived before that point, but the maximum length of their DFA window will seven days. Eder still has two minor league option years remaining. Fletcher has one.

As for Clevinger, he’ll return for a third stint with the ChiSox, this time in a bullpen role. The 34-year-old fired six shutout innings as a reliever during camp, fanning eight of 21 opponents (38.1%) against just one walk (4.8%). He’s far and away the most experienced pitcher in Chicago’s bullpen and could find his way to late-inning work early on, given the youth of the Sox’ bullpen. Clevinger, Bryse Wilson and Penn Murfee are the only Sox relievers with even a year of major league service (and much of Murfee’s MLB service has been spent on the 60-day IL).

Drew Thorpe To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Mark Polishuk | March 22, 2025 at 10:57pm CDT

The White Sox announced that right-hander Drew Thorpe will undergo a Tommy John surgery. Dr. Keith Meister will perform the procedure, and Thorpe will miss the next 13-15 months in recovery.

The news caps off a brutal stretch of health struggles for the 24-year-old righty. Thorpe’s rookie season was cut short by a flexor strain in early August, and he underwent a surgery in early September to remove a bone spur from his throwing elbow. The recovery process didn’t go entirely smoothly, as Thorpe got a cortisone shot in January to help overcome some lingering discomfort from the procedure. Thorpe then had a slow ramp-up during Spring Training and didn’t make his first in-game appearance until a minor league appearance on Thursday, but then that outing was cut short when he left with elbow discomfort.

A second-round pick for the Yankees in the 2022 draft, Thorpe quickly emerged as a well-regarded prospect, and he has already been part of two major trades in his young career. New York included Thorpe as one of the five players sent to the Padres last offseason as part of the Juan Soto trade, and San Diego then flipped Thorpe (and three other players) to the White Sox a few months later in the deal that brought Dylan Cease to the Friars’ rotation.

After that tumultuous offseason, Thorpe looked to settle in as a major piece of Chicago’s rebuilding efforts, and he looked great over 11 starts at the Double-A level. The Sox then decided to call Thorpe straight up to the Show without a stop at Triple-A, and Thorpe perhaps understandably struggled in posting a 5.48 ERA over 44 1/3 innings against MLB hitters.

His next big league start now won’t come until at least midway through the 2026 season, as Thorpe and the White Sox will lose over a full year of important developmental time. Even if Thorpe had started the year at Triple-A, a good showing in the minors would’ve surely gotten him back to the majors in due course, with an eye towards fully establishing himself as a part of the future on the South Side. If there’s any silver lining for Thorpe, it is the fact that spending the year on the big league version of the 60-day injured list will bank him a full year of Major League service time.

The White Sox obviously weren’t expected to contend this season, but losing Thorpe is still a tough blow to the rotation. Manager Will Venable announced earlier this week that Rule 5 Draft pick Shane Smith would break camp with the team, and step into the rotation spot left open by Thorpe’s absence. Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon, Davis Martin, and veteran Martin Perez around out the rest of the projected starting five.

Thorpe is the fourth Sox pitcher to require a TJ surgery in the last two months, as the injury bug has taken a big bite out of the team’s ranks of young pitchers. Prelander Berroa, Ky Bush, and 40-man roster member Juan Carela will all be sidelined into the 2026 season after undergoing the procedure.

White Sox To Carry Rule 5 Pick Shane Smith On Roster; Drew Thorpe Leaves Start With Elbow Discomfort

By Darragh McDonald | March 20, 2025 at 5:25pm CDT

There were a couple of notable updates on the White Sox pitching staff today. For one, the club announced that Rule 5 pick Shane Smith will make the team, along with video of him receiving the news and relaying it to his parents. In a less positive update, manager Will Venable told reporters that Drew Thorpe departed a minor league spring game due to elbow discomfort and will likely require some imaging. Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times passed along video of Venable’s comments.

Smith, 25 next month, was the top pick in the Rule 5 draft which took place in November. A Brewers prospect, he had tossed 157 innings over the 2022 through 2024 seasons, allowing 2.69 earned runs per nine. He struck out 32.2% of batters faced while walking 8.4% of opponents, with solid ground ball rates as well.

The workload was fairly minimal. The pandemic had been a major interruption in 2020 and then Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2021. That led to him joining the Brewers as an undrafted free agent. He was working in relief in 2023 but he split his time between the rotation and bullpen in 2024. He got to 94 1/3 innings on the farm last year with a 3.05 ERA.

Despite the solid numbers, the Brewers didn’t add him to their 40-man roster, allowing the White Sox to grab him in the Rule 5. That gave Smith an opportunity to make his big league debut, which he has seized. He has tossed 10 2/3 innings over four spring starts. He allowed four earned runs with 11 strikeouts and four walks. For a White Sox club with little certainty on the pitching staff, that’s more than enough to make the team. As Venable said to Smith in the clip linked above, he made the decision pretty easy for them.

In addition to making the Opening Day roster, Smith might also have a rotation spot to start the year. Venable relayed last week that four rotation spots were taken by Sean Burke, Martín Pérez, Davis Martin and Jonathan Cannon. That seemed to leave Smith and Bryse Wilson as the two favorites for the final rotation job. Wilson has experience pitching as a starter and reliever. As mentioned, Smith has done both in the minors.

Perhaps more clarity will emerge in the coming days about specific roles, but the key thing is that Smith will be with the club. Rule 5 picks can’t be optioned to the minors. If a club doesn’t want to carry a Rule 5 guy on the roster, they need to put him on waivers and then offer him back to his original club if he clears. But Smith did enough to stick around and will get a chance to face major league hitters in official games soon.

Turning to Thorpe, more information will surely come out in the next few days, but it’s an ominous diagnosis for now. One of the top pitching prospects in the league, he was twice part of a blockbuster trade last offseason. He went from the Yankees to the Padres as part of the Juan Soto deal, with the Friars then flipping him to the Sox as part of the Dylan Cease package.

The young righty posted a 1.35 ERA in 11 Double-A starts last year and got promoted to the majors in June, skipping over the Triple-A level. But he posted a 5.48 ERA in his first nine MLB starts and landed on the injured list in early August with a flexor strain in his throwing arm. A month later, it was reported that he would undergo surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow. In January, he told reporters that he needed a cortisone shot to deal with some lingering inflammation.

Here in camp, he has been ramping up with bullpens and live batting practice. That led to today’s minor league contest, his first real game action of the year. The fact that it ended with some more elbow discomfort is clearly a worrying development.

Further testing will reveal next steps but a significant injury would be unwelcome in many respects. It’s never good for a pitcher to miss notable development time but Thorpe was also set to have a wide open lane for big league opportunities. The Sox just lost 121 games last year and will have lots of starts available this year for anyone who earns them. If Thorpe is on the shelf, he obviously wouldn’t be able to take advantage of that clear path.

Photo courtesy Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Drew Thorpe Suffers Setback In Recovery From Elbow Surgery

By Nick Deeds | January 25, 2025 at 10:39pm CDT

White Sox fans recently received some bad news regarding one of their most promising young players, as right-hander Drew Thorpe told reporters (including Scott Merkin of MLB.com) that he received a cortisone shot yesterday amid a setback in his recovery from the surgery he underwent to bone spur from his right elbow back in September.

Thorpe was previously expected to be ready for Spring Training, but will be behind to start camp. With that being said, however, the right-hander hopes to start playing catch next week and both Thorpe as well as GM Chris Getz expressed optimism about the situation. Thorpe noted that he underwent an MRI earlier this month and that “everything came back clean,” while Getz indicated that the club is “confident” that Thorpe’s setback will prove to be a minor one and that he’ll be ready for big league action in April.

While Thorpe’s outlook appears to be as good as can reasonably be expected for a pitcher dealing with a setback while rehabbing elbow surgery, the news is nonetheless a worrying sign for a White Sox club still reeling from its record-setting 121-loss campaign in 2024. As one of the only actively rebuilding clubs in baseball at the moment, Chicago has little reason for optimism headed into the 2025 season. The club has added veteran pieces such as Josh Rojas, Mike Tauchman, and Martin Perez to the mix ahead of the coming campaign but the focus remains entirely on a core of young, up-and-coming players who the Sox are hoping will be able to turn things around for them in the future.

As the centerpiece of last year’s Dylan Cease trade, Thorpe is a huge part of that core. The right-hander was generally regarded as a top-50 prospect in the sport last winter when he was part of back-to-back blockbuster trades when the Yankees shipped him to San Diego as part of the Juan Soto deal before the Padres promptly flipped him to Chicago in order to acquire Cease. Drafted by New York in the second round of the 2022 draft and having only reached the Double-A level in 2023, Thorpe was a fast riser who made his way to the majors in June of last year. The right-hander pitched fairly well in his first seven starts as a big leaguer, posting a 3.03 ERA and 4.67 FIP in 38 2/3 innings of work, but was shelled for 14 runs in just 5 2/3 frames over his next two starts before going on the injured list with a flexor strain and ultimately undergoing surgery.

In 2025, Thorpe appeared ticketed for an Opening Day rotation job but now will have to focus on rehabbing for at least the start of the season before he can attempt to build on his up-and-down debut season. Last year, the righty flashed his considerable talent but also frequently struggled with his command, walking 11.1% of batters faced and surrendering eight homers in just 44 1/3 innings of work. Fortunately for Thorpe, there should be plenty of room in the club’s rotation once he’s healthy enough to return to the mound. Perez, Bryse Wilson and Jonathan Cannon appear locked into rotation jobs to start the year, while the last two spots figure to go to some combination of Sean Burke, Davis Martin, Nick Nastrini, and Ky Bush.

The Juan Soto Blockbuster Has Been Even Better Than Expected

By Anthony Franco | September 18, 2024 at 7:22pm CDT

Last winter's Juan Soto trade was the biggest in a long while -- probably the most significant since the previous Soto deal. The Padres were slashing payroll and didn't want to accommodate a salary north of $30MM for his final year of arbitration. Extension talks never got off the ground. The Padres were about to lose four potential starting pitchers to free agency, leaving them with Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and a bunch of questions.

San Diego determined to build their return for Soto around MLB-ready starting pitching. They'd not only shed payroll but directly address the biggest need on the roster. It's impossible to trade Juan Soto and not deal a huge hit to the lineup, but the Padres could mitigate some of that loss by bringing back rotation help. Even the San Diego front office probably didn't envision it turning around the staff to this extent.

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Drew Thorpe To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery To Remove Bone Spur

By Nick Deeds | September 1, 2024 at 11:21pm CDT

White Sox right-hander Drew Thorpe is set to undergo season-ending surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow, as relayed by MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. Merkin adds that the club announcement details that Thorpe, who has been on the injured list the past month due to a flexor strain, is expected to be ready for Spring Training with no restrictions.

Thorpe made plenty of headlines this winter when he was included in not one but two separate blockbuster trades over the offseason. First, the Yankees swapped their second-round pick from the 2022 draft to the Padres as part of the package that brought Juan Soto to the Bronx. Just three months later, Thorpe was on the move yet again as he was shipped to Chicago in order to bring right-hander Dylan Cease to San Diego. The hype surrounding Thorpe that led him to be included in two of last winter’s biggest trades was based in his status as a consensus top-100 prospect who had just finished up a dominant 2023 season with the Yankees that saw him post a 1.48 ERA in his first taste of Double-A action down the stretch.

Upon suiting up for the White Sox for the first time back in April, Thorpe was sent back to the Double-A level and continued to display the dominance he had shown during his time with New York. In 60 innings of work across 11 starts, Thorpe posted a 1.35 ERA despite his strikeout rate dropping from the eye-popping 34% rate he flashed with the Yankees last year to a more pedestrian 25%, and by the time the calendar flipped to June the White Sox decided that Thorpe needed a bigger challenge. Rather than promote him to the Triple-A level and test him there, the club opted to promote him directly to Chicago. Thorpe impressed in his first big league start as he struck out four across five innings of one-run ball, though his second outing against the Diamondbacks saw the right-hander allow seven earned runs on six hits and five walks in 3 1/3 innings of work.

The ups and downs of Thorpe’s first two starts would continue throughout his first taste of big league action. He rattled off a stretch of five excellent starts throughout the end of June and start of July where he posted a microscopic 1.23 ERA despite a diminished 17.9% strikeout rate that stood out as a potential red flag. Those concerns promptly came to pass, as what would prove to be Thorpe’s final two starts of the year saw him lit up to the tune of a 22.24 ERA as he surrendered 14 runs on just 5 2/3 innings across the pair of outings. In that time, he allowed four walks and four home runs while striking out just one batter.

Given those deep struggles, it’s perhaps somewhat reassuring that the heralded prospect has been dealing with significant physical issues that could help to explain not only his lackluster 5.48 ERA in his first taste of big league action but also the diminished strikeout rates he posted throughout his first year in the White Sox organization. That relative lack of strikeouts was paired with a fastball that averaged just 91.1 mph in the majors this year, a noticeable decrease compared to scouting reports that noted his ability to routinely sit at 92 and touch 95 with his heater.

With the White Sox in the midst of a lost season in which they’re flirting with the worst record in major league history and Thorpe currently expected to be ready for action in time for Spring Training next year, perhaps the youngster’s upcoming surgery is a sign that fans on the south side have a healthy, more effective Thorpe to look forward to next year. In the meantime, the Sox figure to rely on a rotation featuring Garrett Crochet, Jonathan Cannon, Chris Flexen, Nick Nastrini, and Davis Martin down the stretch.

White Sox Place Drew Thorpe On IL With Flexor Strain

By Anthony Franco | August 2, 2024 at 6:52pm CDT

The White Sox announced they’ve placed rookie starter Drew Thorpe on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 1, with a flexor strain. Chicago recalled Prelander Berroa to take his spot on the MLB roster before tonight’s game against the Twins.

Thorpe told reporters this evening that imaging didn’t reveal anything serious (X link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). He expressed hope he could be back on an MLB mound within a few weeks. The 23-year-old is nine starts into his MLB career. His first crack at major league hitters hasn’t gone well, as he’s allowing 5.48 earned runs per nine over 44 1/3 innings. Thorpe’s 13.2% strikeout rate is well below average and his 11.1% walk rate is a few points higher than the league mark. It’s a rough start, but the former second-round pick was a top prospect coming into the year.

The 6’4″ Thorpe was at the center of two of last winter’s biggest trades. He went from the Yankees to the Padres as one of the key pieces in the Juan Soto blockbuster at the Winter Meetings. San Diego flipped him to the Sox as the headliner of the Dylan Cease return halfway through Spring Training. Thorpe started his Sox tenure in Double-A and dominated to the tune of a 1.35 ERA in 11 starts before being promoted directly to the big leagues.

Chicago is 27-84. They’ve lost 17 in a row and have three wins since the end of June. They’re likely to end up with one of the worst records in league history, with the only question for this season being whether they’ll avoid joining the 1962 Mets as the only team since 1900 to lose 120 games. Beyond that, the next couple months are solely about keeping everyone healthy and evaluating players whom the Sox hope to be long-term pieces.

Thorpe certainly qualifies given his prospect pedigree. The Sox figure to be exceedingly careful with a forearm injury for an important young arm in a lost season. Thorpe has logged 104 1/3 frames between Double-A and the majors this year after throwing 139 1/3 innings in his first professional season. He might have stayed in the rotation for the rest of the season if not for the injury since he wasn’t coming up on any kind of innings limit.

White Sox Promote Drew Thorpe For MLB Debut

By Nick Deeds | June 11, 2024 at 5:10pm CDT

June 11: The White Sox have officially announced Thorpe’s selection today. Left-hander Sammy Peralta was optioned to open a spot on the active roster. To open a spot on the 40-man, right-hander Dominic Leone was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Leone was put on the 15-day IL about three weeks ago due to inflammation in his throwing elbow and it now appears the Sox aren’t expecting him to return in the near future.

June 9: The White Sox are planning to promote top pitching prospect Drew Thorpe to the majors on Tuesday, manager Pedro Grifol told reporters (including James Fegan of SoxMachine). The right-hander will make his MLB debut against the Mariners in Seattle.

Thorpe, 23, was the headliner of a four player package the White Sox received from the Padres in the deal that sent ace righty Dylan Cease to San Diego back in March. It was the second time Thorpe had been traded that offseason, as the Padres acquired Thorpe from the Yankees as part of the Juan Soto package back in December. As one might expect from a prospect that was part of the return for two superstars in separate blockbusters during the same offseason, Thorpe is a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport. The righty currently ranks #41 at Baseball America and #54 at MLB Pipeline.

Prospect evaluation services universally praise Thorpe’s excellent command, ability to eat innings, and the devastating changeup that he complements with a 92-94 mph fastball that’s generally regarded as average and a average-or-better slider that sits in the mid-80s. Aside from his three main pitches, BA also notes that Thorpe mixes in a high-80s cutter and a low-80s curveball. That arsenal allowed the 2022 second-rounder to tear through the lower minors during his first taste of professional ball with the Yankees last year. Thorpe dominated to the tune of a 2.81 ERA with a 32.4% strikeout rate in 18 starts at High-A last year before earning a late season promotion to Double-A.

Thorpe’s star really began to rise with that promotion. The then-22-year-old impressed with a sparkling 1.48 ERA across five starts. The righty racked up a whopping 44 strikeouts in just 30 1/3 innings of work while walking just five. Punching out 40% of batters faced while walking just 4.5% in your first taste of Double-A action is a surefire way to get plenty of attention, and so it’s hardly a surprise that both the Padres and White Sox front offices coveted Thorpe enough to make him a key piece of the trade returns for their star players.

Upon joining the White Sox organization, the right-hander returned to Double-A for the start of the 2024 campaign and has continued to dominate hitters at the level, with similar surface-level numbers in 11 starts this season to his five-start taste of Double-A last year. Thorpe has pitched to a 1.35 ERA in 60 innings of work this year, though his strikeout rate has dipped to a more pedestrian 25% this year while his walk rate has crept up to 7.6%. Even with those diminished peripherals, however, Thorpe has more than proved himself capable at the Double-A level and figured to be in line for a promotion in the near future.

What’s surprising, then, isn’t so much the promotion but that he will skip Triple-A entirely and jump directly into big league action. The White Sox optioned right-hander Nick Nastrini to the minors earlier today, leaving them with just a vacancy in a starting rotation that lost Mike Clevinger to the injured list and now features only Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde, Chris Flexen, and Jonathan Cannon. Rather than call up a veteran at the Triple-A level such as Chad Kuhl or Touki Toussaint to fill out the rotation, the White Sox will instead turn to Thorpe in a bold move to get the righty a taste of big league action.

It’s a decision that could come with financial implications for Thorpe, as he’ll be in a good position to earn a fourth arbitration year as a Super Two player if he remains with the big league club going forward without returning to the minor leagues. Thorpe could theoretically earn himself a full season of service time by finishing in the top 2 in AL Rookie of the Year voting this season, although that would be quite the feat given the massive head starts afforded to players like Luis Gil of the Yankees and Mason Miller of the A’s who have been dominating in the majors all season.

NL West Notes: Padres, Yankees, Soto, Montgomery, Treinen, Bryant

By Mark Polishuk | April 14, 2024 at 4:38pm CDT

As one might expect, December’s blockbuster Juan Soto trade between the Padres and Yankees took on several different permutations before the two sides finally agreed on the seven players involved. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that the Padres had interest in 17 different Yankees players before finally agreeing on a package of four pitchers (Michael King, Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe) and catcher Kyle Higashioka in exchange for Soto and Trent Grisham. Clarke Schmidt and Chase Hampton were two of the other pitchers known to be considered when reports began to surface about the trade negotiations, and Heyman adds that the Yankees agreeing to include Thorpe instead of Hampton was one of the turning points in getting the deal done.

Though San Diego ended up taking a pitching-heavy mix of players, Heyman writes that the Friars also asked about such noteworthy position-player prospects as Spencer Jones, Roderick Arias, and George Lombard Jr. Jones is a top-100 prospect and the 25th overall pick of the 2022 draft, and he has already drawn lots of trade buzz early in his pro career. The Yankees have thus far balked at moving Jones, even in past talks with the Brewers and White Sox about Corbin Burnes and Dylan Cease, respectively.

Padres Acquire Dylan Cease

By Anthony Franco | March 13, 2024 at 11:59pm CDT

The Dylan Cease saga has come to an end. The Padres announced the acquisition of the right-hander from the White Sox for four players: prospects Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte and Samuel Zavala and big league reliever Steven Wilson.

Cease has been a trade candidate at least as far back as last summer’s deadline. While Chicago took him off the market at that time, first-year general manager Chris Getz made clear that he was willing to consider offers on virtually everyone on the roster going into the offseason. That made Cease one of the top names of the winter.

Chicago fielded offers early in the offseason before pulling back. The Sox indicated they wanted to wait for the free agent rotation market to play out before aggressively shopping the star righty. Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery have lingered in free agency longer than anyone anticipated. With Opening Day two weeks away, Chicago seemed to find more urgency to make a move. They’d reportedly talked with the Yankees and Rangers within the past few days, but it is San Diego that gets the deal done.

It’s a massive strike for them just a week before they’ll open the regular season with a two-game set against the Dodgers in South Korea. For much of the offseason, the Padres have gone in the opposite direction. They faced significant payroll constraints that led to the free agent departures of Josh Hader, Seth Lugo, Nick Martinez and Michael Wacha. Snell seems likely to follow.

The biggest loss, of course, came via trade. The Padres dealt Juan Soto to the Yankees before his final year of team control. That both offloaded his arbitration salary — which eventually checked in at $31MM — and brought back a number of controllable starting pitchers to compensate for the free agent departures. Michael King will step into the middle of the rotation. Jhony Brito and Randy Vásquez are candidates for a back-end role. Thorpe came over in that trade and would have been in the rotation mix as well, but he’s now headed to Chicago before throwing a regular season pitch for the Padres.

Despite targeting upper level pitching in the Soto return, San Diego had a largely unproven rotation. Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish were locked into the top two spots. King was ensured of a job after a strong finish last season with the Yankees, but he’d been a reliever for most of his major league career. He only moved to the starting staff for his final eight appearances beginning at the end of August. The rest of the starting pitching options in the organization have limited MLB experience of any kind.

Cease addresses that lack of experience. The former sixth-round pick has been a fixture of the Sox’s rotation since 2020. Aside from a brief virus-related absence in ’21, he hasn’t missed any time as a major leaguer. Cease leads the majors with 109 starts over the last four seasons.

At his best, Cease has paired that pristine durability with a top-of-the-rotation ceiling. He was dominant two seasons ago, turning in a 2.20 ERA with an excellent 30.4% strikeout rate through 184 innings. He was runner-up behind Justin Verlander in that season’s Cy Young balloting and received some down-ballot MVP consideration.

The 28-year-old didn’t replicate that ace-caliber production last season. He had a pedestrian 4.58 ERA across 177 frames. While some level of regression from a 2.20 mark always seemed likely, his earned run average more than doubling wasn’t expected. That’s partially a reflection of a dramatic swing in Cease’s batted ball fortune. Opponents hit only .260 on balls in play against him in 2022; that spiked 70 points a season ago.

Beyond the ball-in-play results, Cease was a little less overpowering in ’23 than he’d been the previous season. His swinging strike rate dipped from 15% to 13.6%. He lost three percentage points off his strikeout rate, which fell to 27.3%. The average velocity on both his fastball (95.6 MPH) and slider (86.3 MPH) dropped a tick. Those are all still better than average marks but not quite as impressive as his 2022 metrics.

As is often the case, Cease’s true talent ERA very likely falls somewhere in the middle. Going back to the start of 2020, he carries a 3.58 mark in just shy of 600 innings. That has come in a tough home ballpark for pitchers in front of generally lackluster defenses.

At the same time, Cease has never had pristine control of his high-octane stuff. He has walked more than 10% of batters faced in three of the past four seasons, including his Cy Young runner-up campaign. He issued free passes at a 10.1% clip last year. That inconsistent command has kept him from blossoming into a true ace and is part of the reason he’s “only” 16th in innings pitched over the last four seasons despite topping MLB in starts.

It’s debatable but largely immaterial where Cease slots alongside Darvish and Musgrove among San Diego’s top three starters. King moves to the #4 spot, while the Friars now have only one Opening Day rotation job up for grabs. Brito, Vásquez, knuckleballer Matt Waldron and the out-of-options Pedro Avila could each be in the mix for the role.

It’s a renewed push for contention by a San Diego front office that has never shied away from dealing for star talent. Cease becomes the defining addition of the Padre offseason, largely enabled by his affordability. He and the White Sox had agreed to an $8MM salary to avoid arbitration. He’s under control via that process through the 2025 campaign. The Padres can plug him into the rotation for the next two years for what’ll likely be between $20MM and $25MM overall.

RosterResource calculates San Diego’s 2024 player payroll around $167MM, including Cease’s salary. The trade pushes their luxury tax number around $224MM, roughly $13MM below this year’s lowest threshold. The Friars have worked to stay under the tax line after exceeding it in each of the past three seasons. They still have questions about the overall roster depth — particularly in the outfield — but they have some flexibility to continue adding either this spring or at the deadline without pushing into CBT territory.

Landing a pitcher of Cease’s caliber and affordability required parting with a few fairly well-regarded young players. San Diego was never going to trade Ethan Salas or Jackson Merrill and managed to keep young pitchers Dylan Lesko and Robby Snelling out of the deal. Thorpe, Zavala and Iriarte were all generally regarded in the next tier of Padres talents. Baseball America ranked all three between fifth and ninth in the San Diego system. The Athletic’s Keith Law had those players in the 6-9 range on his organizational prospect list.

As a key piece of the Soto return, Thorpe is probably the most well-known of the bunch. A second-round pick in 2022 out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Thorpe had a breakout showing in his first full minor league season. The 6’4″ right-hander worked to a 2.52 ERA in 23 starts between High-A and Double-A last year. He fanned more than a third of opposing hitters against a modest 7.1% walk rate.

Thorpe doesn’t light up radar guns with a fastball that sits in the low-90s. Evaluators credit him with a plus or better changeup and an above-average breaking ball, though. He has shown advanced strike-throwing acumen, although Law writes that his precise command (the ability to spot pitches where he wants them) isn’t as impressive as his control (hitting the strike zone consistently). Baseball America, FanGraphs and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel all placed Thorpe in the back half of the league’s Top 100 prospects this winter. He’s a potential mid-rotation arm who could impact the Sox as soon as this year.

Iriarte, a 6’2″ righty from Venezuela, could also be part of the major league pitching staff at some point in 2024. The 22-year-old worked 90 1/3 frames across 27 appearances between High-A and Double-A last season. He allowed 3.49 earned runs per nine behind a 33.2% strikeout percentage. He also walked almost 12% of opposing hitters, but there’s clear bat-missing potential.

Evaluators credit Iriarte with upper 90s velocity with a plus slider and a promising but inconsistent changeup. The chance for three above-average to plus offerings gives him significant upside, although evaluators are split on whether he’ll stick as a starting pitcher. He’ll need to refine his secondary stuff and continue to improve his control, but his athleticism gives him the opportunity to do so. FanGraphs slotted Iriarte in the back half of their Top 100 list. The Sox can take their time to afford him plenty of reps in the upper minors.

Zavala, 19, is a further away development flier. The lefty-hitting outfielder was one of the better prospects in the 2020-21 international signing period. He spent most of last season at Low-A Lake Elsinore. Zavala’s .267/.420/.451 batting line is impressive for a player his age, but prospect evaluators are divided on his long-term upside. Law suggests he’s unlikely to stick in center field, while most reports question his pure contact skills. Zavala took plenty of walks but also struck out at an alarming 27.2% clip in Low-A.

Wilson might be the fourth piece of the return, but he should step directly into the big league bullpen. The 29-year-old righty has been a quality reliever in each of the last two seasons. Wilson owns a 3.48 ERA across 106 career innings. He has fanned just over a quarter of opposing hitters against a 10.9% walk rate. Wilson leans heavily on a low-80s breaking ball and sits in the mid-90s with his fastball.

That profile has led to better strikeout and walk numbers versus right-handed batters, but Wilson has gotten decent results against hitters of either handedness. He could step into high-leverage work in a completely open Sox bullpen. The Santa Clara product has exactly two years of service. Chicago controls him through at least 2027, depending on whether they option him to the minors at any point. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until next offseason.

The White Sox had named Cease their Opening Day starter. That’s no longer on the table as they commit even further to a retool. KBO returnee Erick Fedde is perhaps the top pitcher in what might be the weakest rotation in the American League. Michael Soroka, Chris Flexen, Michael Kopech, Garrett Crochet and Jared Shuster are among the other possibilities. Thorpe figures to open the season in Triple-A but could pitch his way into the mix before long.

Chicago could go outside the organization to try to backfill some of their lost innings. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported last night that the Sox had interest in Michael Lorenzen as a potential Cease replacement. Zack Greinke, Jake Odorizzi and old friend Johnny Cueto also remain unsigned.

Iriarte and Wilson are each on the 40-man roster. Thorpe and Zavala won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until the 2025-26 offseason, although Thorpe seems likely to pitch his way onto the MLB roster well before that point. Chicago designated outfielder Peyton Burdick for assignment to open the necessary 40-man spot.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Padres were finalizing a trade for Cease. Jon Heyman of the New York Post confirmed a Cease agreement was in place. Jon Morosi of MLB.com was first to report the White Sox were acquiring Thorpe and Iriarte. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin first reported Wilson’s inclusion. Bob Nightengale of USA Today was first with Zavala being in the deal.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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