The San Diego Padres will have their ace Dylan Cease spearheading their charge for his final year under club control in 2025 after coming to terms with him on a lucrative one-year agreement.
Padres to pay Dylan Cease $13.75M in 2025
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that Cease and the Padres settled at $13.75 million for next season. This prevented both parties from entering arbitration. For a good portion of the offseason, the Padres were rumored to be entertaining moving off of the two-time All-MLB Second-Team honoree.
That’s due in large part to the fact that he’s slated to hit unrestricted free agency next fall and become one of the cash cows of the upcoming bidding wars among pitchers. Cease is expected to garner much more than the $13.75 million he agreed to with the Padres, which came in at $750,000 more than the $13 million projection he was given by Spotrac.
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Cease will be Padres’ driving force on the hill next season
Nevertheless, San Diego will roll into the upcoming campaign with one of the best strikeout artists in the Major Leagues. The Georgia native finished No. 3 in the MLB with 224 strikeouts and was one of only 11 pitchers to fan 200-plus sluggers. He also sported the 19th-best ERA at 3.47.
The Padres have high hopes that they can advance further in next year’s playoffs than the National League Division Series, where they allowed the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to come back from a 2-1 deficit to win in five games. Cease will be instrumental in quelling a dangerous offensive attack from Los Angeles, as well as other National League contenders such as the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets.
