With the Dylan Cease news who becomes the next big name to sign originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Dylan Cease didn’t just cash in. He just detonated the pitching market.
With the Toronto Blue Jays dropping seven years and $210 million on the 30-year-old right-hander, one of the few true frontline starters is suddenly off the board. And now, every contender that needed him has to pivot fast. Cease was the top elite swing-and-miss stuff, five straight 200-strikeout seasons and real durability. Now he’s gone, and the rest of the market just became a scramble.
The spotlight immediately shifts to Framber Valdez, Michael King and Tatsuya Imai, the three top arms who now become the next major pieces to fall.
Valdez, a free agent after declining his offer from Houston, is the top established left-hander available. He brings volume, postseason experience and top-of-rotation traits. For the Giants, Cubs, Yankees, and every other team that positioned themselves for a premium starter, Valdez is now the contenders’ most straightforward path to a true No. 1 without surrendering prospects. But it will cost draft picks.
King suddenly looks just as valuable. After declining both his mutual option and qualifying offer, the 30-year-old right-hander is one of the few available starters with strikeout upside and multi-inning versatility. He doesn’t carry frontline expectations, but with Cease off the board, King is now one of the most appealing “next-best” options, especially for clubs trying to navigate budget limits.
Then there’s Imai, the 27-year-old Seibu Lions ace who was officially posted earlier this month. He has until Jan. 2 to sign and has already turned the winter into a West Coast bidding war. Reports out of Japan and MLB circles have linked the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs, but Imai himself has said he doesn’t want to join Los Angeles’ Japanese superteam. He wants to beat them. That alone has kept the pursuit wide-open.
Cease’s contract set the price for the offseason. Premium stuff, durability and upside cost $30 million a year now With the Blue Jays moving early, the rest of the league now has to decide which starter triggers the next jolt of the offseason.
At this point, it’s not a question of whether the next wave hits.
It’s who panics first.
