The New York Yankees are on a tough boat right now. On one hand, their free-agent pursuits have huge competition. On the other hand, the trade market’s costs are something that they might not be able to meet. After trading away their topmost prospects for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo trade, can the Yankees trade for Dylan Cease? 

The Chicago White Sox will make Cease’s trade an expensive one. Their dependency on him plus his contract still having two years on it, makes that obvious. Can the Bombers pay the high price?

As with the Juan Soto trade, are they willing to trade additional prospects for Dylan Cease?

Things were simple for the Yankees earlier in the offseason. They traded five of their top pitching prospects for Juan Soto. The hopes were that Yoshinobu Yamamoto would sign with the Pinstripes and cover up some of that gap. But that didn’t happen and now the Yankees are scrambling for pitchers. This has brought them to Dylan Cease, but as SNY’s Andy Martino wondered, will they give away more prospects for Cease?

The Yankees are short on top prospects after their blockbuster trades. The team looks short on prospects by giving away players like Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito, and Kyle Vasquez. While there are a few still left in the Pinstripes, will the Yankees empty their entire prospect lineup in one offseason? It doesn’t seem likely.

Perhaps that’s why the Cease trade could be a tough one for the Yankees. With two years remaining, the White Sox would want more than some cash consideration for Cease. But with a limited number of prospects remaining, the Bombers seem behind other competitors in this regard. On the same lines, Cease has interest from many teams; some of them currently have better prospects than the New York Yankees.

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The Pinstripes have a huge battle ahead of them

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal called the Baltimore Orioles a serious participant in the Dylan Cease trade discussion. Unlike the Yankees, the Orioles currently have a thriving collection of prospects. The traditionally low-payrolled Orioles have invested a lot in their farm system, providing them with an inexhaustible supply of prospects. Other than them, even the Los Angeles Dodgers are competing for Cease. The Blue Crew too has a remarkable collection of prospects.

With these two teams that have a deeper pool of prospects with them, the Yankees will have to dig deep if they want to acquire the White Sox ace.

Read more: Dylan Cease to the New York Yankees? Bombers Emerge as Serious Contenders for White Sox Ace