BLOCKBUSTER IN THE BIG APPLE: Mets and Padres Pull Off Stunning Dylan Cease Trade, Sending Shockwaves Through MLB
The New York Mets inquired about potential trades for San Diego Padres starting pitchers Dylan Cease and Michael King during this past offseason.
Obviously, no trade came to fruition for either of these high-level arms, as both righties started the season with the Padres.
The sentiment was that the Mets were ultimately content enough with their starting rotation headed into the 2025 season so that they weren’t willing to part ways with top prospects to acquire either Cease or King, given both players would essentially be one-year rentals before hitting free agency.
However, the door was still open for a potential trade between these two NL teams at some point in the season. And SNY’s MLB insider Andy Martino alluded to this in a March 29 article.
“A related desire to keep a lane open for trade acquisitions. I strongly expect the Mets to be in on Dylan Cease and Michael King, if the Padres make them available this summer, and any other rotation rentals. They are too well-resourced and ambitious to have a passive trade deadline,” Martino wrote.
The major questions when it comes to this trade going through are what kind of seasons the Padres and Mets have leading up to the trade deadline. If the Padres are competing with the Dodgers atop the NL West, they’d likely be reluctant to part ways with either of these top arms. But if they’re struggling to keep pace with Los Angeles, shipping either (or both) of King and Cease would make more sense.
The next few months will be very telling when it comes to how aggressive New York’s front office will be in adding a top-tier arm via trade.
