The Toronto Blue Jays need starting pitching with Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer heading to free agency. Luckily for them, the 2025 free agent pool is full of starters of varying capacities – from front-end names to back-end rotation arms. One name that sticks out from the group is Dylan Cease, who finished the 2025 season on the San Diego Padres despite being brought up in trade rumours at the deadline. After spending five seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Cease was moved right before the 2024 season in exchange for three prospects and reliever Steven Wilson. At the time, the White Sox were trading the right-hander on a bit of a dip in his production. After amassing a 6.4 bWAR and finishing as the runner-up for the AL Cy Young Award in 2022 (2.20 ERA with 227 strikeouts and a 3.8 BB/9), he fell to a 4.58 ERA and a 3.72 FIP, uncorking a league-leading 14 wild pitches. What followed was an eerily similar path over his next two years with San Diego. In 2024, Cease posted a 3.47 ERA and a 3.10 FIP through 189
