Sep 20, 2019; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; A detail view of Boston Red Sox hats and gloves at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images Kim Klement-Imagn Images

Red Sox Pushed To Sign $158 Million Free Agent Ace

Originally posted on Boston Red Sox on SI
By Zach Pressnell | Last updated Oct 9, 2025 8:00 PM ET

The Boston Red Sox made a lot of big moves in the offseason to put themselves in a good position for this season, but they ultimately came up short.

Boston lost to the rival New York Yankees in the American League wild card round, adding insult to injury. Going forward, the Red Sox will likely be even more aggressive in their pursuit of a World Series.

FanSided's Christopher Kline recently urged the Red Sox to go after free agent starting pitcher Dylan Cease of the San Diego Padres if they want to catch the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. Cease is projected to sign for $158 million over six years, per Spotrac.

Dylan Cease would be the perfect addition for the Red Sox

"It's pretty clear what Boston needs. Craig Breslow has three simple tasks laid out in front of him: Trade Jarren Duran, upgrade first base and find a second ace to pitch behind Garrett Crochet in the rotation," Kline wrote. "The final point is the most important, and the best free agent pitcher on the market this winter is Dylan Cease, who happens to be an ex-White Sox teammate of Crochet. How fitting.

Cease's surface numbers this season weren't very impressive — 4.55 ERA and 1.33 WHIP — but the metrics paint a more nuanced portrait. To keep it simple, Cease was unlucky this season. His expected ERA (3.47) sits in a far more palatable realm. He was in the 95th percentile for whiff rate (33.4) and the 89th percentile for strikeout rate (29.8), which means the righty is still missing a ton of bats. His 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings led the National League.

Cease is the perfect target for the Red Sox, if they can afford it. Money is going to be a bit of an issue considering the fact they need to sign Alex Bregman to a new deal before anything else.

But if the Red Sox can find the money to make this happen, Cease would fit as the No. 2 on the pitching staff perfectly. He's a talented pitcher with upside as high as anybody in the National League. If he's at his best, he's nearly unhittable.

The Red Sox found out late in the season how important it is to have pitching depth. Adding Cease would help eliminate this problem going forward.

This article first appeared on Boston Red Sox on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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