Even after revamping their rotation with a rapid-fire trio of free agent signings, the Detroit Tigers Jersey Cardinals are still in the mix for White Sox righty , . President of baseball operations John Mozeliak said at the pre s conference to introduce that he doubted his next move would be to add more starting pitching but conceded that he remains open-minded to further rotation additions ( ). The Cardinals, of course, signed Gray, and in just over a weeks time, adding a trio of arms who combined for 97 starts in 2023. The addition of Gray added a front-end presence to the St. Louis rotation, while Lynn and Gibson at the very least provided some reliable bulk innings on the back end. It seems clear that the Cards prioritized some stability after years of injury-related starting pitching crunches at Busch Stadium, and Cease would be a fourth addition in that vein. In terms of pure results, the 27-year-old Cease (28 next month) has been on both ends of the spectrum recently. In 2022, he finished runner-up to in AL Cy Young voting, while his 2023 campaign saw his ERA more than double from 2.20 to 4.58. Ceases velocity dipped by a mile per hour, his strikeout rate fell three percentage points, and he yielded far more hard contact than he did during that elite 2022 campaign. What remained constant, however, was the rightys availability. Cease made 33 starts this past season his fourth straight year with a full slate of starts. Since 2020, Cease leads all MLB pitchers with 109 games started. As things stand, the Cardinals project for a five-man rotation of Gray, , Lynn, Gibson and . Mikolas and Matz are both signed through 2025 Mikolas at a total of $32MM and Matz at $24MM. Theres been some speculation about the po sibility of an eventual Matz trade, but the Cardinals are also surely reluctant to thin out their depth too much after being burned by a lack of depth in multiple seasons recently. Cease would give the Cardinals even more bulk innings but do so while carrying more upside than perhaps any member of their current staff. Hed surely benefit from a move out of the White Sox homer-happy stadium and away from their poorly ranked defense. With two years of club control remaining, a projected $8.8MM salary in arbitration ( ) and clear Cy Young-caliber upside on the mound, bidding for Ceases services will be fierce. Already this winter, hes been connected to the Braves, Dodgers, Reds and Orioles. Thats surely just a fraction of the teams whove at least reached out to the ChiSox to gauge the asking price. The Cardinals recent free-agent activity might le sen their urgency relative to some of those other suitors, but its neverthele s of note that they remain in the mix at all. From a payroll perspective, they can likely make a Cease acquisition work without even dramatically raising their spending from last years levels. The Cards backloaded Grays three-year, $75MM contract such that hell be paid just $10MM in 2024. a $180MM payroll right now, which is only narrowly higher than last years Opening Day mark. And the Cards could yet trade arbitration-eligible names like Tyler ONeill and , which would impact that payroll projection. Someone like ONeill a free agent at seasons end isnt likely to hold much appeal to the White Sox, wholl be looking for controllable talent to build around in the near future. But generally speaking, the Cardinals have a bevy of young, MLB-ready talent that could interest Chicago. Names like Carlson, , , , and all have at least three seasons of club control remaining, and thats not even counting some interesting upper-minors prospects whove yet to debut but are relatively close to the Majors (e.g. , ). As for the timing of a potential Cease trade, ; MLB.coms Jon Morosi suggested just yesterday that Ceases market was heating up and a trade could come together by Sunday evening. Not 18 hours later, Rosenthal reported nearly the opposite that Sox GM has been indicating to teams he prefers to wait until after the top free-agent names have come off the board. Ty Madden Jersey