Cubs Should Think Twice About Dylan Cease Free Agency Pursuit

However, while Cease has been one of the most durable starters in all of baseball over the past several seasons, he's also among the most unpredictable. This is why the Cubs would be wise to think hard about potentially signing him in free agency, along with how much they might want to offer him.

Why Cubs Pursuing Dylan Cease Could Come With a Risk

As noted, durability is perhaps Cease's best asset. He has made 32 or 33 starts in every single regular season since 2021, which means that he has essentially not missed a single start during that entire time. He also has the seventh-most innings pitched (884) since the 2021 season.

What's more, Cease is a strikeout machine. He has tallied at least 214 punchouts every year since 2021, and his 215 during the 2025 regular season was sixth-most in MLB.

Strikeouts and innings pitched aside, there's a case to be made that Cease is among the more overrated starters. His 4.55 ERA in 2025 was below average. He produced a respectable 3.47 ERA in 2024 and struggled in 2023, posting a 4.58 ERA that year.

In other words, Cease has been mediocre in two of the past three seasons. His last elite campaign came in 2022, when he went 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA for the Chicago White Sox and earned AL Cy Young Award votes.

That 2022 season is the first thing many think of when considering Cease's ceiling. And while that's fair, 2022 was also four seasons ago. He hasn't been that elite of a pitcher for a long time.

So, Should Cubs Try to Sign Dylan Cease?

This is not to suggest that Chicago should ditch the Dylan Cease sweepstakes entirely. Rather, they'd be wise to not overpay a guy who still has a lot to prove when it comes to being an MLB rotation's ace.