The New York Yankees already acquired outfielders Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo this offseason. New York may not be done looking to add talent via trade, though. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles have “sincere” trade interest in Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease.

Cease is among the top pitching trade candidates. Corbin Burnes and Shane Bieber have also been mentioned in MLB rumors, but Cease holds the most value since he still has two years of team control remaining. Burnes and Bieber will enter free agency following the 2024 season.

The Orioles feature one of MLB’s best farm systems and Jon Heyman of the New York Post thinks Baltimore makes the “most sense” for Cease. New York is still a legitimate landing destination, but it remains to be seen how much prospect capital the Yankees will be willing to surrender in a trade.

Acquiring Cease, who did not have a great 2023 campaign but still features elite upside, will come at a steep price. The White Sox are understandably looking for a massive return in any Cease deal.

Yankees in on Cease, could look elsewhere
Cease is not the Yankees’ only pitching option. As mentioned earlier, Burnes and Bieber are pitchers to keep an eye on in the trade market. Of course, pitchers such as Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery remain available in free agency.

Recent reports even suggest that Snell has interest in joining the Yankees. Pairing the reigning NL Cy Young winner with the reigning AL Cy Young winner (Gerrit Cole) would instantly give New York one of the better starting rotations in the league.

To summarize, this Yankees team has options. At this point, fans likely expect New York to end up with at least one star pitcher. If they fail to trade for/sign any of the top remaining hurlers, Yankees fans will not be happy.