Bruce Levine: Baseball industry believes White Sox got a 'really good' return in trade of Dylan Cease to Padres

(670 The Score) The White Sox traded 28-year-old ace Dylan Cease to the Padres on Wednesday evening in exchange for four players, including three prospects who ranked among the top eight in San Diego’s farm system, according to MLB Pipeline.

So how did the White Sox do in the trade?

“The trade they made is a really good one,” Score baseball insider Bruce Levine said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Thursday morning. “(That’s not from) talking to the White Sox people or their scouts, but the people in baseball, they believe (in it).”

The Padres traded 23-year-old right-hander Drew Thorpe, 19-year-old outfielder Samuel Zavala, 22-year-old right-hander Jairo Iriarte and reliever Steven Wilson to the White Sox. Thorpe was the Padres' fifth-ranked prospect, Zavala was their seventh-best and Iriarte was their eighth-best, according to MLB Pipeline.

Particularly, Thorpe is viewed as a “top-of-the-line young pitcher,” Levine said. He had a 2.52 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 182 strikeouts in 139 1/3 innings across two levels in 2023. That included a 1.48 ERA, 0.66 WHIP and 44 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings at the Double-A level.

“We’re talking about a big strikeout pitcher, one of the top-rated pitchers in the minor leagues,” Levine said. “And at 23 (now), 24 next year, he should be in your rotation next year.”

Thorpe was a second-round pick of the Yankees in 2022.

Zavala hit .243 with 14 homers, 77 RBIs and a .797 OPS in 115 games split between Class-A and High-A last season.

Iriarte had a 3.49 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 128 strikeouts in 90 1/3 innings split across High-A and Double-A in 2023. That included a 4.30 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in 29 1/3 innings at Double-A.