Price tag to acquire White Sox starter Dylan Cease would be much too high for the Reds

With trade season in full swing and the deadline to execute deals just days away, talks between baseball executives are beginning to heat up.

Shoehi Ohtani is now off the market after the Los Angeles Angels acquired a pair of arms from the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. Kike Hernandez, Noah Syndergaard, and Amed Rosario all have new homes as well.

One of the biggest names that could move prior to the August 1st deadline is White Sox ace Dylan Cease. While starting pitching should definitely be on the Cincinnati Reds radar at the trade deadline, the price to acquire Cease would be much too high.

Price tag to acquire White Sox starter Dylan Cease would be much too high for the Reds.

Do you remember what the Seattle Mariners gave up last summer in order to aquire former Cincinnati Reds ace Luis Castillo? Yeah, that's about what the Chicago White Sox are going to be looking for in return if any team is interesting in securing the services of Dylan Cease.

But while Castillo was only under team control for one more season at the time of the trade, Cease wouldn't become a free agent for two more seasons. It would take a haul of prospects in order to pry Cease away from the south side of Chicago.

The Reds walked away last summer with a quartet of prospects; two of which are Top 50 prospects at this point in the season. Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo look to be a big part of the future Reds baseball in the Queen City.

So, if Reds fans are interested in trading for Dylan Cease, they'd have to be comfortable sacrificing some of their young talent. Prospects like Cam Collier, Chase Petty, Connor Phillips, and Carlos Jorge would definitely be on Chicago's shortlist.

Sorry, but the juice isn't worth the squeeze. Yes, Cincinnati needs starting pitching. But too many fans forget that just last season the Reds lost 100 games. This team is overachieving at the moment. And while that's fun and exciting, the front office can't sacrifice some of their top young talent in order to make a postseason run in 2023.

That's not to say that the Cincinnati Reds shouldn't inquire as to the availability of other pitchers like Michael Lorenzen, Lance Lynn, and even Jack Flaherty. But the Reds need to play the long game and not shove all their chips into the middle of the table just to acquire a player like Dylan Cease as this year's trade deadline.