The Giants had no recent trade conversations with the Chicago White Sox regarding a potential Dylan Cease trade, a source told NBC Sports Bay Area's Alex Pavlovic on Wednesday night.
Earlier in the day, the New York Post's Jon Heyman reported that the Giants and Texas Rangers were "in on" Cease before he was dealt to the San Diego Padres for major-league reliever Steven Wilson and three top 10 prospects -- outfielder Samuel Zavala and right-handed pitchers Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
ESPN's Jeff Passan first reported that the White Sox and Padres were finalizing a trade for the 28-year-old, who has eclipsed 200 strikeouts in each of the last three MLB seasons.
The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Wednesday, citing major-league sources briefed on the discussion, that the Padres beat out the Rangers for Cease.
San Francisco Giants
The Giants plan to head into the start of the 2024 MLB season with a relatively young starting rotation behind veteran and NL Cy Young Award candidate Logan Webb.
Rookie of the Year candidate Kyle Harrison is slated to be the Giants' No. 2 starter, followed by Jordan Hicks and Keaton Winn. Prospect Mason Black is the leader in the clubhouse to be the No. 5 starter to begin the season.
At some point midway through the season, the Giants expect veterans Alex Cobb and Robbie Ray to return from injury rehabs and join the rotation, so while Cease would have been a solid pick-up in the short-term, it might have created a logjam later in the year.
In five seasons with the White Sox, Cease has a 3.83 ERA and 792 strikeouts over 658 innings pitched. He finished second in AL Cy Young voting in 2022 after posting a 2.20 ERA and striking out a career-high 227 batters.
Cease will make $8 million during the 2024 season and has one more year of arbitration eligibility remaining, so the Padres will have him for two full seasons -- unless they flip him in another trade before he becomes a free agent.
With two weeks remaining until the start of the season, if the Giants still are looking for starting rotation upgrades, they will have to turn their attention to available free agents Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery.