Breaking: Prominent veteran ace bids the White Sox farewell, reflecting on the end of an era as he joins the Texas Rangers

The Chicago White Sox have agreed to trade starting pitcher Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Wednesday evening.

Per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, the Padres will be sending right-handed pitchers Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte and Steven Wilson back to the White Sox to complete the deal, as well as outfielder Samuel Zavala. Thorpe, Zavala and Iriarte are ranked as the No. 5, No. 7 and No. 8 prospects in San Diego’s farm system.

It wasn’t all too long ago that the White Sox were considered to be content holding onto Cease until this summer’s trade deadline. The New York Yankees and Texas Rangers emerged as the favorites to trade for Cease earlier this week, however, only to get outbid by the Padres.

Cease is coming off a season in which he went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA, 1.418 WHIP and 2.4 WAR, marking his least efficient campaign since his rookie year in 2019.

The 28-year-old right-hander was the AL Cy Young runner-up in 2022, though. He leads all MLB pitchers with 97 starts over the past three seasons, going 34-24 with a 3.54 ERA, 1.257 WHIP, 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings and a 11.8 WAR in that time.