2025 Player Outlook

Trade rumors swirled around Cease throughout the offseason, but he remains atop the Padres rotation for now. He bounced back nicely from a down season on the southside of Chicago in 2023, as he posted a 3.47 ERA across 33 starts in his first season with the Friars. Cease recorded the lowest walk rate of his career at 8.5 percent, and the strikeout numbers were still in elite territory at 29.4 percent.